The ManicaPost
Tanyaradzwa Mutizwa Business Correspondent
STAKEHOLDERS attending the 2019 Annual National Agribusiness Conference at the ongoing Zimbabwe Agricultural Show in Harare on Wednesdays called on Government to support manufacturers and suppliers of irrigation equipment and technological innovations needed for the successful adoption of smart agriculture.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) president Mr Shadreck Makombe told the conference that the adoption and acceleration of smart agriculture technology was long overdue and farmers were raring to embrace it and modernize their operations.
Mr Makombe said it was critical to realise that the vast majority of farmers (98 percent) in Zimbabwe who fall under the small-scale category relied on rain fed agriculture, which was fast becoming very unreliable in the face of climate change challenges.
He added that the depletion of irrigation water in bodies meant to hold or contain it was leading to shortages that were stifling irrigation and livestock development at the same time hence the need for the development and advancement of technology that would help farmers sidestep the hurdle and produce competitively to boost food security and generate incomes.
“There is a huge demand for smart irrigation, mechanization and farming systems meant to improve farmers’ resilience to the vagaries of the weather and this thereforeaugments the need to pursue this vision ofdoing farming commercially, which will involvetransforming our practices to bring out the business side of farming,” he said.
Mr Makombe said as farmers, they were appealing with Government to support industries that manufacture and supply equipment needed to transform the face of agriculture from the traditional methods to modern competitive ways adding that this would have a phenomenal and positive impact across the whole value chain.
The move, he said, would boost the farmers’ competitiveness locally, regionally and internationally, which would also turn around the country’s performance on the export markets.
“The performance of our agriculture sector will remain depressed if we do not adopt a holistic as a country and we will need all stakeholders, whether private or public to play their part and complement the support Government will extend towards the implementation of the programme,” said Mr Makombe.
