adminNgoni Dapira
MANICALAND is being sidelined from the More Food Africa Brazilian farming equipment credit programme. This was revealed during the Mutare Press Club re-launch last week Friday by a local farming grouping company, Ferro Fresh Group.
More Food Africa, is a Brazilian credit programme aiming to promote export of agricultural equipment into Africa to alleviate poverty, malnutrition and create self sustenance for smallholder and commercial farmers.
The programme is currently operational in Mozambique, Senegal, Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
Ferro Fresh Group technical director, Mr Kevin Sanhanga said Manicaland was being left out from the More Food Africa programme despite it being the heart of horticulture farming in the country. He said the More Food Africa programme for agricultural technology payable after 15-years was valued at $98 million and had the potential to boost productivity for local farmers that currently cannot afford to buy new farming mechanisation equipment.
“As Ferro Fresh we visited Brazil over a year ago and signed dealership agreements with agricultural machinery and equipment suppliers, which we hoped we would bring into the country under the More Food Africa programme, a government to government agreement programme.
“This deal has not materialised, only to be asked recently by our Brazilian partners why other Zimbabwean companies and other provinces were already benefitting from the facility but not Manicaland?” he said.
Mr Sanhanga said if they had got the machinery they intended to lease out the machinery to smallholder farmers and scale-up productivity in the provincial horticulture projects.
“We would within a short period mechanise, rehabilitate, re-equip and retool small-holder farms throughout our province,” said Mr Sanhanga.
Mr Sanhanga implored the acting Zanu-PF chairman, Cde Samuel Undenge, who was the guest of honour, to look into the matter and assist them.
He said as provincial businesspeople and farmers they needed facilitation from political leadership to breathe life into economic turnaround projects in the province.
“As political leadership from the province you have an unprecedented opportunity to convert the provinces great wealth into permanent improvements in local’s lives. Agriculture lies at the heart of this province,” he said.
Attempts to get a comment from the Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Minister, Cde Joseph Made were futile by time of going to press.
Minister Undenge however said he would follow-up on the matter.
The Ferro Fresh Group consists of Ferro Fresh Produce and Ferro Fresh Irrigation Equipment.
Ferro Fresh Irrigation Systems is the sole distributor and service agent in Zimbabwe of IMBIL pumps and Bauer irrigation equipment from Austria and Brazil.
Online Reporter