President expected at MUAST

Victor Maphosa Mashonaland East Bureau

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa is today expected to launch an Innovation and Agro Industrial Park at the Marondera University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology (MUAST).

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr Nick Mangwana yesterday confirmed that President Mnangagwa would be at MUAST today.

“Yes, His Excellency will be in Marondera tomorrow (today) to launch the Marondera University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology Innovation and Agro Industrial Park,” Mr Mangwana said.

MUAST is the only fully-fledged agricultural university in Zimbabwe.

Being an agricultural university, its faculty structure reflects its needs: agricultural sciences and technology, agribusiness and entrepreneurship and earth and environmental sciences.

The university offers degrees that are aligned to fulfilling the requirements of the Education 5.0, whose main objective is to change the development trajectory of the nation from selling unfinished or raw resources at a lower cost to the global economy, to selling finished products that support the creation of sustainable industries, encourage entrepreneurship, and shift the African economy from one of mass consumption to mass production.

The agro-industrial park is a product of the Government’s new strategic policy which mandates universities and other tertiary institutions to be drivers of innovation and industrialisation for the provision of goods and services to the economy.