THE summer cropping season is here.

Large and small-scale farmers, communal producers and many in urban areas are raring to go.

However, most of them are affected by the prevailing liquidity crunch and it is critical that we expeditiously extend support to our farmers as well as industries supporting the agricultural sector.

Inputs in the form of seeds and fertilisers must get to farmers in time if we are to derive maximum output in the forthcoming agricultural season.

We must build upon the relatively successful last season that saw production thriving even in areas that have in the past been deemed unsuitable for cropping.

Granaries are not empty. 

We have no food crisis in the country and farmers can, this season, embark on agricultural activities on a commercial level.

With last season’s good harvest, we began the journey to self-sufficiency.

Food security is vital for many reasons and the most important one is that it ensures sufficiency and lessens the burden on Government.

With food security, most of our problems will be solved and a thriving agricultural sector will be a boon for the economy.

Food security means imports will be reduced, bringing down the import bill.

It is important to note that every dollar that the nation can save is critical; it is money that will be deployed to other areas of desperate need.

Therefore, we appeal to the relevant authorities and other supporting entities to ensure that farmers get the necessary support to produce beyond subsistence level.

In the last farming season, some granaries were filled to capacity. 

Now let the farmers produce commodities for trade.

Zimbabwe’s economy has traditionally been agro-based. 

The country’s agricultural sector, at its peak, not only provided 60 percent of industry’s raw materials but exported more products than any other industry.

If we are serious about turning around the economy in a manner that is sustainable, then all effort must be made to support the farmer for the agricultural sector is the foundation of the turnaround we all desire.

Farmer organisations and other stakeholders must speak with one voice.

Lucrative markets must begin to be sourced so that produce will transform the lives of our hardworking farmers who have in recent years been hard done on the market.

Progressive countries that have already begun working with us have a huge appetite for agricultural commodities and markets in those countries must be understood by our farmers.

Farmers must follow international best practices so that their produce fetches premium returns.

It is also time for communal farmers to start treating agriculture as a business. The size of a field does not matter in farming, but the quality of products.

World over, small pieces of land have made millionaires and, as a nation, we are blessed with vast tracts of fertile land that we must fully utilise.

Thus, farmers must engage experts for advice, to test their soils and assist them to come up with crops best suited for their land.

We must make the best of this cropping season.