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Brazil has sent a team of technicians to train farmers in the operation of agricultural equipment recently acquired by Government under a $98 million facility. The equipment, which was recently commissioned by President Mugabe in Harare, is funded through Brazil’s Food for Africa Programme.
Speaking in Harare last Friday at an event to welcome the technicians drawn from various Brazilian agricultural equipment suppliers, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made said Zimbabwe was grateful for the support given by Brazil to capacitate farmers and improve food production.
Dr Made said the team of five technicians would be going around the country’s provinces training smallholder farmers on how to use and service the equipment.
“I want to welcome you from Brazil and now you are going in the field to meet the farmers,” Dr Made said. “Brazilians are experts in land preparation and agricultural machinery and we are grateful that our people will learn a lot from this programme.”
The equipment includes tractors, disc harrows, planters, fertiliser and lime spreaders and irrigation kits.
“I am pleased to note that you have Zimbabwean companies that you chose for yourselves to work with and I want to urge those companies involved to look after you well,” said Dr Made.
A representative of one of the Brazilian companies, Mr Mateus Rigotti, said it was important for the farmers to know how to use the equipment correctly.
“My company Argrale S.A has been producing tractors for a long time now,” Mr Rigotti said. “Our main purpose is to provide training and knowledge because you can lose a lot if you do not use the equipment correctly.”
Mr William Caetano, a technician with Baldan Implements Agricolas S.A, said he was pleased to be part of the programme.
“We are coming here to transfer knowledge to farmers on how to use the equipment,” he said. “The farmers need money and the country needs food, so it is my pleasure to be here to transfer my skills.”
The $98 million loan facility, that will be implemented in three phases, has a two percent interest rate per annum which is payable in 15 years with a three-year grace period. The first phase saw $38 million worth of equipment that included 320 tractors, 450 disc harrows, 310 planters, 100 fertiliser spreaders and 6 650 knapsack sprayers being distributed to rural farmers across the country.
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