Online Reporter
Nyore Madzianike [email protected]
THE successful transformation of Pricab Farm in Kwekwe, owned by President Mnangagwa, has been documented in a new book titled The Farming President: Pricabe Farm Success Story, which was officially launched by Vice- President Dr Kembo Mohadi in Harare yesterday.
Written by Dr Shame Mukoka, the publication chronicles President Mnangagwa’s farming journey at Pricabe Farm, tracing its transformation from what the author describes as an underutilised property under its previous owner into a productive agricultural enterprise.
The Farming President: Pricabe Farm Success Story also presents Pricabe Farm as a model of agricultural productivity and efficiency, highlighting lessons that can inspire farmers in Zimbabwe and beyond.
Speaking at the launch, Vice-President Dr Mohadi said President Mnangagwa’s commitment to agriculture was evident in the policies and programmes introduced by the Second Republic to revitalise the sector and strengthen national food security.
“Through highly successful initiatives such as Pfumvudza/Intwasa, the Presidential Inputs Scheme, expanded irrigation development, mechanisation and other agricultural support programmes, the Second Republic has pursued the noble objective of ensuring food security and ultimately food self-sufficiency.
“These strategic interventions have radically empowered hundreds of thousands of smallholder households, strengthened rural livelihoods, minimised rural-to-urban migration, and enhanced our national resilience against devastating, climate-induced phenomena such as El Niño.
“These outcomes reflect a type of leadership that profoundly appreciates a fundamental truth: that true national sovereignty is fragile until a Nation possesses the absolute capacity to feed its own people from its own soil,” he said.
Vice-President Dr Mohadi said President Mnangagwa’s decision to grant Omer Publishing authority to market and distribute the book in Zimbabwe and across the region would help broaden access to the Pricabe Farm success story.
He said the publication offered a compelling account of Zimbabwe’s agricultural recovery and demonstrated the potential of the country’s farming sector.
“This is, without doubt, an exceedingly proud moment for Zimbabwe. We are celebrating not just a successful commercial farming enterprise, but the enduring, irreversible success of our historic Land Reform Programme.
“This publication serves as irrefutable proof that our land reform was not an end in itself, but a gateway that empowered indigenous Zimbabweans to productively utilise their ancestral heritage, achieve better yields, and contribute meaningfully and decisively to the gross domestic product of our Nation.
“Agriculture as an industry is ubiquitous in most of the National Development Strategy 2 pillars, and remains the primary engine and catalyst for achieving our national vision, Vision 2030, which seeks to move our society towards an Upper-Middle-Income Economy.
“A thriving agricultural sector does not exist in a vacuum; it generates downstream employment, fuels industrial growth through robust agro-processing and value-addition, saves and earns vital foreign currency, stimulates infrastructure development in our rural communities, and guarantees price stability for basic commodities. Every single productive hectare across our provinces contributes directly to the macroeconomic stability of our Motherland.”
Vice-President Dr Mohadi urged universities, agricultural colleges, technical training institutions and primary and secondary schools to adopt the book as a valuable teaching and learning resource in line with the Heritage-Based Education 5.0 model.
“Let this text find its rightful place in your libraries, lecture halls, and research laboratories to stimulate home-grown innovation, biotechnology research, and practical agronomic learning. We must utilise this literature to encourage our youth to appreciate agriculture not through the lens of basic survival, but as a sophisticated, modern, highly lucrative, and strategic corporate enterprise capable of generating massive wealth and transforming communities.”
Vice President Dr Mohadi also called on the private sector, financial institutions and corporate organisations in Zimbabwe to increase their participation in agricultural value chains and support the sector’s growth.
He commended Omer Publishing for documenting and professionally presenting the Precab Farm success story.
“By preserving this magnificent legacy in writing, you have made an enduring, indelible contribution to our national archive, our contemporary history, and the future evolution of agriculture across the African continent.”
Among those who attended the launch were the Minister of Harare Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Charles Tawengwa, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Dr
Anxious Masuka, and Marondera University of Agriculture, Science and Technology Vice Chancellor Prof Justice Nyamangara.
Students from various higher and tertiary learning institutions also attended the book launch.
