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Wallace Ruzvidzo in Hamilton, New Zealand
The New Zealand Fieldays, the country’s largest agricultural exhibition event, which ended here yesterday, has been described as an eye opener that will help consolidate Zimbabwe’s current growth trajectory in the agriculture sector.
In an interview, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to New Zealand Mr Joe Tapera Mhishi said Zimbabwe’s inaugural participation at the event was a resounding success, after the country’s delegation convened high-level meetings with New Zealand’s leading agricultural companies, tertiary institutions and the country’s minister of trade, agriculture and biosecurity.
The New Zealand’s Livestock Improvement Centre also expressed interest in assisting Zimbabwe to improve its national herd, particularly the dairy one, and in employing the right genetics to derive maximum gains.
“New Zealanders are very keen to engage with Zimbabwe,” he said.
“We had a meeting with the minister of trade, agriculture and biosecurity, who expressed his interest to understand opportunities for cultivating and deepening relations with Zimbabwe.
“There is room for Chinhoyi University to work with actors on the ground, and we have had a conversation on the extraction of embryos for the purposes of breeding new animal species.
“We are talking technology that enables actors back home to appreciate how they can approach sexed semen, which is already subjected to analysis that enables a pre-determination of the animals that will be bred.
“Our focus in that regard are dairy cows and work towards selecting the best genetics, which will give stimulus to our dairy milk production.
“Crop sciences are also an area of interest to both Zimbabwe and New Zealand, and on drought-resistant crops and small grains, which are part of our overall national strategy for food security.”
Separately, Chinhoyi University of Technology Vice Chancellor Professor David Jambgwa Simbi, said the institution had learnt invaluable lessons during the expo.
“It has been an eye-opener, and as a university that is meant to be technology-driven, the technology that we have seen at this event has taught us one or two things,” he said.
“Farmers are not in competition, but rather work collaboratively and are able to identify problems and solve them together.
“When a country says it only consumes five percent of the milk that it produces — 95 percent is exported — it tells you a big story.”
Massey University School of Agriculture and Environment head Professor Paul Kenyon said Zimbabwe had the potential to ramp up its agricultural production and productivity if the right mechanisms are employed.
Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Vice Chancellor Professor Justice Nyamangara said the agricultural fair was educative.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Mr Nick Mangwana led the Zimbabwe delegation, which included other Government officials and representatives of several universities.
Online Reporter