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Elton Manguwo
WITH the country moving to set the agriculture sector on a positive growth trajectory to restore its yesteryear status as the Bread basket of Africa, the Government is musing on rehabilitating country clubs, which used to play a pivotal role in agricultural production by providing platforms for information sharing and dissemination.
Speaking during a seminar held at Banket Sports Club recently, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development permanent secretary Dr John Basera said the Government was looking to rehabilitate country clubs across the country.
“The country clubs are a key component of the development journey, as they enhance sharing of information,” he said.
These country clubs are important in propping up Zimbabwe’s agro-based economy by providing the needed social capital that cannot be sourced from any other setting.
“The reviving of the country clubs in different districts provides a platform for farmers to meet and share knowledge and experiences in different farming disciplines,” said Dr Basera
“The old commercial farmers had a lot of social capital because they networked and behaved like a real community. It’s time the new farmers leave individualism and start working together as a sector a community.”
The farmers’ country clubs will act as centres of excellence where farmers will get knowledge interact and share ideas.
“We applaud farmers in Banket Mashonaland West province in partnership with the private sector, as they have teamed and sourced resources to revive their abandoned club, the Banket Sports Club,” said Dr Basera.
The country clubs are part of the ecosystem of the farming community where farmers can interact on various industrial trends.
“The clubs will provide a centralised point where the farmers will interact with extension services workers and the gatherings have a knowledge mobilisation role that is critical in addressing the knowledge gap in the industry,” said Dr Basera.
The development comes at a time the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development is introducing the concept at village head level, with the village head’s farm being the site for the school.
“We are looking to establish farmer field schools in all the 35 000 villages across the country to easy extension service provision, as we move to capacitate farmers with needed technical knowhow for increased productivity,” said Dr Basera.
The Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Dr Anxious Masuka recently observed that his Ministry’s strategy was to adopt development that left no one, no household and no village behind anchored on the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy and the national development strategy 1 (NDS1).
Online Reporter