BY MISHMA CHAKANYUKA
President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday urged players in the agricultural sector to adopt innovative solutions and latest technology to enhance agricultural productivity.
Officially opening this year’s edition of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show in Harare, Mnangagwa said aspects such as block chain financing, crowd farming, precision agriculture, artificial intelligence, satellite and drone analytics and other modern-based services should be pursued vigorously to help the country regain its bread-basket status.
Mnangagwa advised those in the manufacturing sector and related industries to help fund the agriculture value-chain.
“It is incumbent upon us to develop agricultural systems which will provide enough inputs to manufacturing industries and help develop competitive products for entry in the global value chains,” he said.
Mnangagwa also urged beneficiaries of the land reform programme to maximise production on their given pieces of land.
“Let us all rise to the responsibility of feeding the nation and meeting our dietary and nutritional needs as well as producing for exports. The rationale behind our historic, irreversible land reform programme was to empower the indigenous people with the greatest factor for production, which is the land. We must now, therefore, roll up our sleeves and assure maximum productivity,” he said.
Mnangagwa said agriculture remained the backbone of the economy and a key contributor to national economic development, adding his government had already started distributing inputs for the 2019/2020 summer season. He also urged the nation to adopt water-harvesting techniques and irrigation to fend off the effects of climate change.
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“The mitigation against the increasingly unpredictable weather partners must be a top priority for those in this sub-sector. In the same vein, I challenge the various agriculture organisations to vigorously pursue win-win partnerships that will help grow, modernise and mechanise the sector,” Mnangagwa said.
