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Sharon Shayanewako
THE current drive to link agricultural research, education and extension for a sustainable farming sector have stimulated growth and rural economic development for both crop and livestock farmers across the country, an expert has said.
Zimbabwe Agriculture Knowledge Innovation Services (ZAKIS) information officer Bernard Manyere revealed this during last week’s Zimbabwe Agricultural Show saying it was his organisation’s goal to produce an integrated, dynamic, market oriented and farmer centric agricultural knowledge and innovation services system that meets the needs of modern agriculture in Zimbabwe.
“The initiative brings together public and private institutions with a focus to improve farmers’ productivity and incomes through the delivery of well researched modern knowledge and extension. The overall objective of ZAKIS is to enable farmers and value chain actors to improve their lives and contribute to agricultural growth and rural green economic development.
“ZAKIS has given birth to Zimbabwe Agriculture Hub, a virtual library or platform, which capacitates farmers through information provision and knowledge transfer. We provide information to both crop and livestock farmers,” said Manyere.
Zimbabwe Agriculture Hub (ZimAgricHub) is an online platform that facilitates the transfer of research findings and knowledge transfer to farmers with the aim of improving agricultural productivity.
Besides improving agricultural productivity, the Zimbabwe Agriculture Hub also provides markets for the farmers to sell their produce.
“Apart from knowledge provision, it also helps in creating markets due to collaborations and interaction among farmers. ZAKIS has also established two Agricultural Centres of Exellence (ACEs) at Chibero College of Agriculture (Northern Region) and Matopo Research Institute (Southern Region).
“These ACEs are the places where crop and animal husbandry research is conducted. Good agriculture practices are demonstrated and modern farming technologies are showcased and developed there. These ACEs are complemented by ZimAgriHub,” further explained Manyere.
Zimbabwe Integrated Commercial Farmers Union president Mrs Mayiwepi Jiti added that innovation hubs would enable farmers to have an appreciation of agriculture and see, which areas were best for them.
“Through these hubs, farmers will have an appreciation of how they can improve the performance of the agricultural sector and see, which areas are best for them, for example, some might be into production while others can focus on value addition and research due to the fact that agriculture has a wide range of sectors. This provides the farmers with room to bring in new technologies and innovations to improve productivity and their livelihoods as well,” said Mrs Jiti.
She added that the hubs would motivate farmers to work harder or more people to get into the agricultural sector because they would get the chance to interact with other farmers from different districts and share ideas on markets and encourage each other to improve their participation.
Innovation hubs are key to harnessing the potential of farmers for the development of the nation.
The aim is to improve farmers’ livelihoods by enhancing the dissemination of agricultural knowledge and stimulate innovation.
Online Reporter