Theseus Shambare Zimpapers Correspondent
GOVERNMENT is targeting to extend agricultural mechanisation to all the country’s 35 000 villages under President Mnangagwa’s rural development agenda, with village business units, schools and youth enterprises set to benefit from 25-horsepower tractors and a range of attachments.
The initiative is aimed at extending mechanisation beyond large-scale commercial farmers and A2 farmers, who have traditionally benefitted from existing mechanisation programmes, to rural communities that have largely relied on manual labour.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka, said the programme would be implemented through a bank-mediated financing model, with successful village business units being prioritised to acquire the machinery.
He was speaking during a pre-visit to the Institute of Agricultural Engineering in Hatcliffe, Harare, yesterday ahead of the launch of the smallholder mechanisation programme by President Mnangagwa soon.
“The 62 percent of our population, 9,2 million people, reside in rural areas and they too have been yearning for mechanisation of Pfumvudza/Intwasa and for more mechanised transport, for their manual and much more.
“So, Government has responded by putting in place a similarly styled input facility for tractors and attachments,” said the minister.
Dr Masuka said the smaller tractors, with a capacity of 25 horsepower, were earmarked for the country’s 35 000 villages, schools and youth business units.
The programme will build on the Presidential Rural Development Programme, under which 6 071 boreholes have been drilled, resulting in the establishment of 2 058 village business units.
The bulk of the established business units, Dr Masuka said, are now operational and commercialised, creating an opportunity for them to expand their activities through mechanisation.
“Now, we want to link successful business units to be able to get this tractor and a range of attachments of their choice through a bank-mediated loan. Then they can pay over a five to seven-year period,” he said.
The financing arrangement is expected to enable qualifying enterprises to acquire machinery without having to meet the full purchase cost upfront, although the specific interest rates, deposit requirements and prices under the new facility are yet to be announced.
Dr Masuka said the initiative was intended to transform rural communities from being passive beneficiaries of Government interventions into active participants in economic production.
“For once and under the Second Republic, villagers, my mother, my father have become investment cases rather than just mere recipients of Government social interventions,” he said.
The programme, he said, would create a business model at village level, allowing communities to generate income through agricultural mechanisation services and other productive activities.
“This creates a business model at a village level so that villagers become economic participants and not mere economic spectators,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s mechanisation drive has previously focused largely on larger-scale farmers through programmes involving tractors, combine harvesters and other agricultural equipment.
The new initiative is expected to widen access to appropriate machinery among smallholder farmers, particularly for land preparation, conservation agriculture and transportation.
The forthcoming launch is expected to provide further details on the rollout, including the machinery available, financing arrangements and the criteria for selecting beneficiary village business units.
