Story by Tendai Munengwa
THE Agriculture Mechanisation Programme is on course, with government securing small tractors and a wide range of implements aimed at transforming agricultural activities by smallholder farmers under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme.
The initiative is designed to support climate-smart agriculture and improve productivity by providing appropriate machinery suited to small-scale farming operations.
Speaking during the collection of the equipment, Chief Director for Mechanisation and Farm Infrastructure Development, Engineer Edwin Zimunga, said the new phase of mechanisation was tailored to meet the needs of Pfumvudza/Intwasa farmers.
“After the President launched the Agriculture Mechanisation, we realised it was benefitting big farmers only because of the type of tractors and equipment imported, so this time around, with climate change, we adopted Pfumvudza/Intwasa and the farmers were using holes. The new equipment is here, comprising of small horsepower 20 to 50 horsepower and implements which are suitable for zero tillage, hay bailing for livestock or various other implements to make farming a business. We are bringing 550 tot under the first phase and farmers can approach their banks to access the tractors.”
Beneficiaries welcomed the programme, describing it as a major boost to productivity and empowerment.
“We are happy that we are now collecting these tractors, the President has done us good and we are thankful for his generosity towards war veterans. The people should now see that the President is a listening leader. What is left is to see how we are going to transform our farming,” a war veteran said.
“I have come to collect our tractor on behalf of my father. He is a happy man after he was given the chance to own a tractor,” a child of a war veteran noted.
The Pfumvudza/Intwasa mechanisation and other large-scale tractor empowerment initiatives require the farmer to pay 15 percent deposit and collect the tractor, which will become the collateral.
Farmers are expected to put the tractors to good use and pay for the equipment in five years.
