Story by Gay Matambo
THE government continues to capacitate agriculture extension officers (AEOs) across the country, with those in Chivi, Masvingo Province being the latest to benefit from the solar kits programme.
Agriculture extension officers are responsible for driving agricultural activities across the country through offering expert advice to farmers.
Their work has also been credited for recent successful agricultural seasons, hence government’s decision to ensure their capacitation for them to be mobile and to be always accessible to farmers.
After several other capacitation programmes, agriculture extension officers in the Chivi district have also received solar kits from the government.
“We are grateful for this programme which will enable us to implement various technologies in agriculture,”
“This shows that very soon, we will have attained Vision 2030 because we now have everything that will enable us to practice smart agriculture,”
“We will be able to charge our phones as well as the gadgets we were given as we do our work in the villages because that’s where most of us work with farmers,” said the beneficiaries.
The Provincial Director in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Mr Caleb Mahoya said more than 700 solar powered units are set to be distributed to extension officers in Masvingo Province.
“We want to thank the government for this capacitation programme, which is benefitting the agriculture extension officers. 94 of them and 11 supervisors received their solar kits here, and as a province, we are expecting to distribute 779 of these kits, and other districts are in the process of collecting as we speak. The programme will go a long way in motivating the Agritex officers,” he said.
The initiative is part of the several strategies that the government is implementing to significantly improve service delivery by enabling real-time interaction between agriculture extension officers and farmers.
“This shows that the Second Republic has the people at heart because if we are to trace the benefits of this capacitation programme, it goes down to the grassroots, to the farmers,” said Chivi Central Constituency co-ordinator, Cde Maoneke Maoneke.
“We want to thank the President for this gesture. The AEOs are being capacitated over and over again to show that they are key to the development of the agriculture sector. Today, they are being given solar kits. They will be able to access information in real time and pass it on to the farmers on time,” noted Chivi North legislator Honourable Godfrey Mukungunugwa.
The continuous capacitation of agriculture extension officers across the country is key towards boosting the country’s agricultural productivity.
