Presidential Rural Horticulture Transformation Plan to boost rural incomes in Zimbabwe

The Presidential Rural Horticulture Transformation Plan will be rolled out in the forthcoming summer cropping season to boost rural incomes, improve family nutrition and open the way for local processing of foods. Government is set to roll out the scheme that will see 2,3 million households benefitting from fruit production and village nutrition gardens. The orchards and gardens should, by 2030, be adding an average of US$2 000 a year to each rural family. Under the programme, each targeted household will be given 10 trees of each fruit variety, depending on suitability of the fruit tree varieties for their region. Government is looking at six varieties: passion fruit, pecan nut, guava, mango, macadamia and apple. The horticulture recovery plan is part of Government initiatives under the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy (2020-2025) to transform agriculture from a US$5,2 billion to a US$8,2 billion sector, contributing 20 percent of GDP by 2025 in line with the ...