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Monalisa Chikwengo
GOVERNMENT has partnered the private sector to introduce a mechanisation project for small-scale farmers with the latter supplying the bulk of the scale-appropriate tractors and combine harvesters for the scheme.
This was said by Department of Agricultural Engineering, Mechanisation and Soil Conservation Chief Director, Mr Edwin Zimhunga at the Department of Agricultural Engineering’s 2022 award giving ceremony held on Tuesday in Harare.
Mr Zimhunga disclosed that the Government was crowding in the private sector under the Agricultural Mechanisation Development Alliance project.
“This is a project where we are now looking at scale-appropriate technology from a smallholder farmer perspective where in most cases we are talking about small pieces of equipment, for instance, tractors, which are running on 15 to 50 horse power engines.
“A power tiller being used for tilling a small piece of land is more appropriate than a tractor and plough aggregate, likewise the use of a mini combine would be more scale appropriate for a small rice farm than a bigger combine harvester,” said Mr Zimhunga.
Scale-appropriate mechanisation means that the equipment promoted and used suits the needs of the smallholder farmer in terms of farm size and general production conditions.
Mechanisation increases operational efficiency and productivity, as farming operations can be executed more effectively.
“What we have come up with under the smallholder mechanisation is a holistic value chain approach, which takes everything right from the point where you start land preparation to the point where you produce the final product,” continued Mr Zimhunga.
Mr Zimhunga said 15 companies with an understanding of scale-appropriate farm mechanisation and local markets were already partaking in the project.
The Government has seen the framework, participation and performance of these companies and is confident that our agriculture is making a giant stride towards sustainability and more productivity, remarked Mr Zimhunga.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Deputy Minister Vangelis Haritatos, who was the guest of honour at the event, said the Government was coming up with interventions that were meant to ensure food and nutrition security.
“As a country we have a deficit in mechanisation, which is why the Government interventions are being made in order to increase machinery supply to agriculture,” he said.
Online Reporter