Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Dr Anxious Masuka has urged farmers to produce quality produce for them to be successful.
Addressing delegates at the handover of a milking parlor project by Zimplats to Gwebi Agricultural College recently, Dr Masuka said that farmers should not put the pricing of their product first but should consider other factors before price determination.
“Profitability comes from what l call the quadruple four principles, in any business, there are only things that you need to worry about. The first is the quantity that you produce per unit area, it will mean the quantity of milk produced per cow per day if we are talking about the dairy sector.
“The second aspect is the quality of what you produce per unit area and in this case, it is the quality of milk produced and the third is the cost of producing that quantity and that quality per unit area.
“The fourth is the price of your product, in all cases from maize production to milk production, we start with the wrong things, especially farmers. We start by thinking of the price which should be the last thing to worry about.
“You should worry about the first three and the fourth will follow into place. If you are able to increase the quality and the quantity while simultaneously reducing the cost, then you will be the most successful farmer and the price will come as a bonus,” he said.
Dr Masuka holds a BSc Agric (Hons) and a DPhil from the University of Zimbabwe/Oslo. He was appointed Minister of Agriculture, Lands and Rural Resettlement in August 2020. He is a technocrat with a very strong industrial and agricultural background having been a forestry and agricultural researcher for 13 years with over 100 science publications and more than 15 books and handbooks on forestry, agriculture, and policy and strategy.
Prior to his appointment he served as the CEO of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society where he championed the transformation of the society to make it more relevant to the current agricultural development imperative while creating an organization fit for the future.
He is renowned for transforming the Harare Agricultural Show from a display platform to an opportunities ecosystem for individuals, informal MSMEs and formal businesses.
In addition, he spearheaded a project focusing on improving and sustaining rural livelihoods through nationwide artificial insemination of beef cattle, launched in 2017, and which complemented government’s Command Livestock. This project was largely funded by mining companies through their CSR activities. Some 10 800 improved bulls and heifers will be produced annually, in all provinces, over a three-year period from this project.
