Online Reporter
Nyore Madzianike
Senior Reporter
THE successful transformation of Precabe Farm in Kwekwe, owned by President Mnangagwa, has been chronicled in a book titled, “The Farming President: Precabe Farm Success Story”, which was launched by Vice President Dr Kembo Mohadi in Harare yesterday.
Written by Dr Shame Mukoka, the book showcases President Mnangagwa’s farming achievements at Precabe Farm, which it describes as having been underused under the previous owner.
The book also highlights the transformation of Precabe Farm as a model of agricultural productivity and efficiency, offering inspiration to Zimbabweans and beyond.
Speaking at the book launch in Harare yesterday, Vice President Mohadi said President Mnangagwa’s dedication to agriculture was reflected in the bold policies and programmes that had revitalised and transformed the agricultural sector over the years.
“Through highly successful initiatives such as Pfumvudza/Intwasa, the Presidential Inputs Scheme, expanded irrigation development, mechanisation and other agricultural support programmes, the Second Republic has pursued the noble objective of ensuring food security and ultimately food self-sufficiency.
“These strategic interventions have radically empowered hundreds of thousands of smallholder households, strengthened rural livelihoods, minimised rural-to-urban migration, and enhanced our national resilience against devastating, climate-induced phenomena such as El Niño.
“These outcomes reflect a type of leadership that profoundly appreciates a fundamental truth: that true national sovereignty is fragile until a nation possesses the absolute capacity to feed its own people from its own soil,” he said.
President Mnangagwa’s decision to grant Omer Publishing the authority to market and distribute the book in Zimbabwe and the region provided an opportunity to share the inspiring narrative of Precabe Farm.
The story of Precabe Farm showcased Zimbabwe’s agricultural recovery and capability.
“This is, without doubt, an exceedingly proud moment for Zimbabwe. We are celebrating not just a successful commercial farming enterprise, but the enduring, irreversible success of our historic land reform programme.
“This publication serves as irrefutable proof that our land reform was not an end in itself, but a gateway that empowered indigenous Zimbabweans to productively utilise their ancestral heritage, achieve better yields, and contribute meaningfully and decisively to the gross domestic product of our nation.
“Agriculture as an industry is ubiquitous in most of the National Development Strategy 2 pillars, and remains the primary engine and catalyst for achieving our national vision, Vision 2030, which seeks to move our society towards an Upper-Middle-Income Economy.
“A thriving agricultural sector does not exist in a vacuum; it generates downstream employment, fuels industrial growth through robust agro-processing and value-addition, saves and earns vital foreign currency, stimulates infrastructure development in our rural communities, and guarantees price stability for basic commodities.
“Every single productive hectare across our provinces contributes directly to the macroeconomic stability of our motherland.”
Vice President Mohadi urged universities, agricultural colleges, technical training institutions, and primary and secondary schools to embrace the book as an indispensable teaching and learning resource when implementing the Heritage-Based Education 5.0.
“Let this text find its rightful place in your libraries, lecture halls, and research laboratories to stimulate home-grown innovation, biotechnology research, and practical agronomic learning.
“We must use this literature to encourage our youth to appreciate agriculture, not through the lens of basic survival, but as a sophisticated, modern, highly lucrative, and strategic corporate enterprise capable of generating massive wealth and transforming communities.”
The private sector, financial institutions and corporate in Zimbabwe should scale up participation in agricultural value chains.
The Vice President commended Omer Publishing for documenting and professionally presenting the Precabe Farm success story.
“By preserving this magnificent legacy in writing, you have made an enduring, indelible contribution to our national archive, our contemporary history, and the future evolution of agriculture across the African continent.”
The launch was attended by Minister of Harare Provincial Affairs and Devolution Charles Tawengwa, Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Dr Anxious Masuka and Vice Chancellor of Marondera University of Agriculture, Science and Technology Prof Justice Nyamangara.
Students drawn from higher learning institutions also attended.
