As we prepare for the 5 year strategic plan, today I convened all the senior officials of the department and our entities to listen to what farmers want us to do. Our plan will not rely on desktop sterile information, but be based on the development challenges faced by our people.
We are the net importers of food, when we are blessed with agricultural resources i.e. land, livestock and passionate people. What must we do differently to improve productivity and competitiveness? We should not just list what we wish to happen, we must state what we are all going to do. Let us monitor both government and farmer performance. For both parties, where there is poor performance, there must be consequences. For government officials, discipline must be enacted and for farmers, you might be taken out of the programme. The limited government resources must be spent sparingly and strategically with discipline properly adhered to.
Things must change! And things will change!
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