Story by Tafara Chikumira
Cabinet ministers have been mesmerised by the good agronomic practices that have been implemented at the First Family’s Precabe farm in Kwekwe.
Cabinet ministers spent the better part of Thursday at Precabe Farm in Kwekwe where the First Family has become a shining example in the agriculture sector.
The government dignitaries toured the farm which has 300 hectares of wheat and 200 hectares of barley which has since reached the harvesting stage.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is anticipating an average of 11 tonnes per hectare, translating to around 4 000 tonnes of the total yield.
The first family has also planted 30 hectares of irrigated potatoes.
The Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Honourable Anxious Masuka said, “What we witnessed today is visionary leadership. When the ship has the right captain, you just have to know that reaching the destination is guaranteed. The cabinet ministers have witnessed exceptional skills in farming. The President is walking the talk and our thrust is to achieve food self-sustenance.”
The cabinet ministers also witnessed the massive mechanisation projects being implemented at the farm.
President Mnangagwa paid for all the equipment at the farm ever since he acquired the piece of land under the Land Reform Programme.
The Minister of Public Service and Social Welfare, Honourable July Moyo said, “When we were scouting for farms, the President chose this one. There was only a tuckshop and some bit of equipment including a huge tractor that he spoke about. He acquired a bank loan to pay for every infrastructure at this place.
“Every development that you see here was developed by him. What we learn from him is to take farming from the heart. When he is here, he takes farming as a serious business and as such, he employs accountants and upgrades his staff academically so that they become conversant with the latest technology.”
The First Family is leading by example in the Second Republic’s Agriculture Recovery Plan, which has also seen the Agriculture Rural Development Authority (ARDA) taking a lead in setting up business units at village level across the country.
