Minister of Agriculture Rugare Gumbo of Zimbabwe

Aleck Rugare Ngidi Gumbo is the Minister of Economic Development in Zimbabwe.

Gumbo was appointed as Minister of Economic Development in April 2005, following the March 2005 parliamentary election; this appointment involved splitting a new Ministry of Economic Development from the old Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.

The Herald reported on January 3, 2009, that Gumbo had been dismissed from the Cabinet earlier in the week, along with 11 other ministers, because he no longer held any seat in Parliament.

Minister of Economic Development Rugare Gumbo was quoted as saying that a major part of the National Economic Development Priority Program (NEDPP) involves harnessing 2.

Gumbo said on Wednesday to achieve the set objectives, it was important that investor confidence be restored, key infrastructure rehabilitated and developed while the government's domestic and external debt would have to be reduced.

Speaking in an interview at the National Cattle Herd Rebuilding Workshop in Bulawayo, the Minister of Agriculture Rugare Gumbo said the new policy framework would give impetus to the recovery of agriculture and drive the ministry's operations.

Officially opening the workshop, Gumbo said his ministry was focusing on increasing production and improving productivity in all agricultural commodities to satisfy both the local and export markets.

Gumbo said it was imperative for the nation to embark on a massive livestock herd rebuilding program with emphasis on dairy and beef.

Gumbo said the land reform program had created large numbers of small holder farmers, hence the need for a paradigm shift from generally large scale extensive commercial to small scale intensive commercial livestock production.

Cde Gumbo said the targeted hectarage had remained at 70 000 as of last season, with farmers having indicated they could plant as much as 71 275 hectares.

Although Cde Gumbo was not sure of the prices, a GMB official said farmers now had to fork out $135 billion for a tonne of seed and $2 billion for a tonne of compound D.

Cde Gumbo said the major area that now required urgent attention was the availability of fertilisers which seemed to be in short supply.

Cde Gumbo said there were also active fertiliser import contracts under which the GMB was supposed to have received 6 500 metric tonnes of urea by April 19 from Intshona to complement the local industry.

Turning to fuel, Cde Gumbo said the Ministry of Energy and Power Development had advised him that arrangements for nine million litres of fuel required for the programme had been put in place with farmers already receiving their allocations.

Cde Gumbo said such farmers must be allowed to grow wheat if they were ready to do so.

On electricity, which was a major challenge last season, Cde Gumbo said measures were in place to improve supplies this winter cropping season.

Gumbo said the council had established task forces to cover such areas as agricultural recovery and mobilising foreign currency.

Unveiling the blueprint in Harare, Economic Development Minister Rugare Gumbo said the key objectives of the NEDPP are reducing inflation, stabilisation of the currency, ensuring food security, increasing output and productivity, and generation of foreign exchange.

Gumbo said that various taskforces have been put in place to spearhead the implementation of the programmes and strategies.

New Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo said crops in some areas were a complete write-off, the paper reported.

quot;new farmers created by the land reforms.

Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo was quoted as saying in the state-run Herald newspaper as saying 2,000 tonnes had so far been delivered while the bulk of 30,000 tonnes was expected ‘anytime soon from now.

Gumbo said that inspectors have been deployed to all border posts to do the checking.

Speaking at the Zimbabwe Farmers' Union (ZFU) national congress in Masvingo, Gumbo said the newly resettled black farmers had let the nation down after they failed to maintain production on former white-owned farms.

Gumbo had no kind words to the largely black-dominated ZFU accusing the farmers of gross incompetence.

Officially opening an inception workshop for the programme last week, Agriculture Minister Cde Rugare Gumbo said his ministry realised gaps in the implementation of some priority areas of the Zimbabwe Agriculture Sector Strategy on HIV.

As government, we have started looking at how our farmers have fared in the utilisation of land they were allocated," Gumbo said in an interview.

Gumbo said Zimbabwe was importing grain from neighbouring countries despite critical foreign currency shortages.

Gumbo is the Member of Parliament for Mberengwa West, which he controversially contested and finally won after a re-run of the primary elections while Mnangagwa narrowly lost the Kwekwe central seat to the MDC in March.

Gumbo was previously a deputy minister of home affairs.

Mnangagwa is battling to regain lost territory in the province and on the other hand Gumbo has become the favourite of Mugabe," said the sources.

Mnangagwa had control of the province for a long time and now Gumbo has come onto the scene and tilted the scales," said the sources.

Speaking at a Press briefing in Harare yesterday on Zimbabwe’s agricultural preparedness for the forthcoming season, dubbed The Mother of All Farming Seasons, Cde Gumbo said everything was in place.

Cde Gumbo said the country has targeted to put at least 2 million hectares under maize, 400 000ha under small grains (sorghum and millet), 600 000ha under tobacco, 120 000ha under soyabeans, 200 000ha under groundnuts, 400 000ha under cotton and 56 000ha under sugarcane.

Cde Gumbo said the targets along with the anticipated good rains projected by weather forecasts should contribute to the success of the farming season.

AGRICULTURE Minister Mr Rugare Gumbo has allayed fears that the current fertilizer shortage will derail this year’s agricultural season.

Mr Gumbo said the Government was aware of the shortages and was working flat out to ensure that fertilizer is availed to all farmers.

However government chief whip Rugare Gumbo said independence day should still be a source of pride and serve as an opportunity to recall the days of whites-only rule during the regime of then Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith.