RECENTLY President
Robert Mugabe availed
agricultural equipment
worth millions of dollars
under a More Food for
Africa programme.
While Zimbabwe has
vast mineral resources, it
has also vast arable land
that is now in the hands of
the indigenes.
We repossessed the
land from the white
minority.
It is no secret that
human civilisation
and progress has been
hinged on a thriving
agricultural sector.
For sustainable
economic growth we
must ensure that our
agricultural sector
works as much as the
mining sector.
As we write
elsewhere in the paper,
the land is the all of a
nation.
It is aptly put that
for Afrocentricity
to be meaningful to
Zimbabweans and their
children we must not lose
focus on the value of the
land and must have full
control of all its wealth,
above and beneath its
soils.
Already the A1 farmer is
doing wonders.
Life at the family level
has been transformed
especially for the tobacco
farmer.
We have surpassed
production levels of
former white farmers, but
we are not at our peak.
Various challenges,
chiefly lack of stateof-
art equipment and
dependence on rainfall,
which has become erratic
owing to climate change,
have hindered the farmer.
And this new
equipment that will be
distributed in all the
provinces, effectively used
will transform operations
especially of the dedicated
small-scale farmer.
It must not be doubted
that the success of our
economy is directly
linked to the performance
of vana mai Rudo,
uKhumalo, Museyamwa
on their small pieces of
land.
The machinery must
not go to waste, failure is
not an option.
Adequate food is a
primary concern and
major driver of success in
all arenas.
The irrigation
equipment gives us some
form of control over our
destiny.
Our requirements for
grain per year are known
and with functional
irrigation systems in
place we can produce the
required and more.
And in the process save
and divert the money that
we are using for grain
imports to other pressing
needs such as upgrading
the manufacturing sector.
With a thriving
agricultural sector we
will not only provide food
and raw materials, but
increase employment
opportunities.
Fast growing economies
like China, India, Canada
and Brazil have huge
and thriving agricultural
sectors sustaining them.
With the availed
machinery, Zimbabwe
will continue to make the
most out of the land.
It is critical that
beneficiaries of the
programme be serious
and dedicated to ensuring
maximum production.
Thus the 22 000
communal and A1 farmers
set to benefit in the first
phase of distribution have
a duty to the nation and
they cannot afford to fail.
These farmers have
done considerably well
under difficult conditions
and with the support
availed they will do much
better.
The equipment is
definitely not for status
purposes but is as good as
empowerment comes.
Our agriculture
extension officers must
help recipients of the
machinery with skills
training in effective use
and maintenance.
It is time every farmer
even one producing on an
acre of land to move away
from subsistence farming.
Latest technologies now
enable farmers to produce
more yields on small
pieces of land.
With the equipment we
will be in full control of
our destiny and render
ineffective the illegal
sanctions imposed on the
country by the West.
Zimbabwe will be
a success story and a
shining example to the
rest of Africa.