Story by Josephine Mugiyo
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has urged farmers and various economic sectors to benchmark their performance with the best in the region and to prioritise improving production.
He was speaking from his residence on Christmas Day as he reflected on the production process at his Precabe Farm in Kwekwe.
Agriculture remains one of the key pillars of the Second Republic and several policies have been put in place by government to boost production.
In July this year, the country held its first ever irrigation conference where investment deals worth US$223 million were signed.
The irrigation investment conference, is among measures being employed to gather resources that will ensure vast tracts of fertile land and more than 10 000 dams are used to maximum production.
President Mnangagwa, who himself is a farmer of repute, spoke to ZBC News on the importance of farmers as well as other professionals benchmarking their performance with others in the region to ensure production is continuously improved.
The head of state was speaking from his residence on Christmas Day as he reflected on how he seeks to continue improving production at his Precabe Farm in Kwekwe.
“I have my young brother Patrick who is running the farm, I always tell him if you see someone outside the country who is producing better, Patrick must go and find out how they are doing it. You must compare yourself with the best in the country and the region. Sometimes I send him to South Africa. In whatever you do you must match yourself with the best your field,” he said.
Turning to the country’s communal farmers, President Mnangagwa said they are key in the attainment of food security, beginning at household level.
“When we speak about food security at household level we are talking about our own families country wide to take responsibility to secure food security at household level. Once that is achieved then the country is food secure because primarily it is important that each household secured its own household needs, but our people are generally hard working families. The only constraint is when we don’t have enough rain, once you have rain you’re sure that as a government you can look at other aspects of feeding our people, not the country side,” he added.
Climate change continues to affect farming activities, not just in Zimbabwe but the whole Southern Africa region, hence government efforts to prioritise irrigation development.
