TWO fundamental lessons that we have learnt over the past five years are that Zimbabweans are now firmly in tandem with ongoing economic reforms as well as development and they no longer tolerate interference from outsiders and regime change agents.
There is nowhere for Zimbabwe to go but up.
And this is something that those in the opposition, together with their Western handlers, have sought to fend off over the past two decades — a senseless fight that is bleeding the country’s economy in the face of prevailing economic and political changes across the globe.
The West is not happy with the direction that Zimbabwe has taken since 2017 and we can all brace ourselves for more desperate and continued onslaught from that part of the world.
But history has yet to be generous with those opposed to peace and development.
That the sponsors and proponents of the anti-Zimbabwe drive are now coming out in the open airing their exasperation with their acolytes speaks volumes about the great strides the country has made in delivering to the masses tangible economic policies and defending the gains of the liberation struggle.
The country has already scored big on many fronts, including but not limited to massive infrastructure development and food self-sufficiency.
“Yes we are food secure because in the recent past, I have seen applications for permits to import seed, that is maize seed and traditional grains,” said Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Dr John Basera last month.
“We started to operationalise the Agriculture Recovery Growth Plan and we managed to score 2,7 million tonnes of maize during the 2020-21 cropping season.
“So, generally we are food secure and I know SEEDCO contributed 90 percent of seed and this was a big a score.
“We recorded 375 000 tonnes of wheat last season and, for the first time since 1966, we are flour self-sufficient and that is incredible.”
The country requires 360 000 tonnes of wheat per annum.
There is more good news for the farmer and the country as a whole.
According to the Zimbabwe Economic Review, the 2023 tobacco marketing has generated US$149 million in the first month of trading compared to US$141 million during the same period last year.
The auction floors opened on March 8 with the country’s output expected to rise to 230 million kg from 212 million kg in 2022, representing an 8,5 percent increase in production.
Zimbabwe has set a target of 300 million kg by 2025 and the average price for the golden leaf that has been auctioned so far has been US$3/kg.
While tobacco farmers and buyers are smiling all the way to the bank, Government has started preparations for the 2023/24 summer cropping season with an overall thrust of increasing production vis-a-vis cultivated area.
The thrust is premised on ensuring that both the country and the farmer reap immense benefits from strategic growth and marketing of crops.
“Food security is achieved through the production of enough food crops and livestock products as a result of increased productivity of the major food crops,” reads the Lands Ministry’s State of Preparedness report.
“A target cereal production of 3 775 72 tonnes, with 3 060 000 tonnes of maize and 715 728 tonnes of traditional grains is enough to meet the human cereal consumption requirement as well as the requirement of industrial uses and livestock feeds.”
The agriculture sector covers just one arm of the octopus economic development thrust that has been adopted by Government.
Other critical sectors of the economy are well and truly on course to meeting their set targets.

This means the incoming ZANU PF Government now has on its hands the crucial task of ensuring that all pockets of all possible interference are sealed while new openings for more economic transformation are unveiled.
This also means the forthcoming harmonised elections are about culling Western countries’ hostilities against the country through walloping the opposition and all its remnants.
The recently held ZANU PF primary elections, which once again confirmed and consolidated the Party’s status as the undisputed, true bearers of democracy in the country, point to unprecedented mauling of the opposition.
The numbers speak for themselves.
ZANU PF Cell register now has a membership of 4,5 million members from its targeted five million voters in the forthcoming elections.
The interest by both contesting candidates and Party members where at least three million voters cast their votes for their preferred candidates also feed into this thrust.
This does not, however, mean that we should take our eyes off the ball as the enemy has proved time and again that he can strike any time and when we least expect it.
As such, it is incumbent upon those who are inclined to the success of this country on all fronts to be wary of the never ending manoeuvres of the enemy.
As we celebrate the country’s 43rd independence anniversary in the sacred land of Mt Darwin next week, we should always remember that we are where we are courtesy of the innumerable sacrifices of thousands of sons and daughters of the soil who foiled the enemy’s attempts to keep the country under the choking yoke of colonial bondage.