Serbia to assist in agriculture

mechanisation.
This will see the country getting assistance on agriculture machinery, implements and irrigation equipment.
Speaking after a meeting with the Serbian ambassador to Zimbabwe, Goran Vujicic, Agriculture Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made said the two parties had agreed to work together in different sectors of the agriculture industry.
He said the two parties agreed on the need to modernise agriculture to meet the increasing clientele of new farmers who came on board as a result of the land reform programme.

“The old and new farmers require support in terms of machinery and equipment. We will be considering tillage, tractive machinery, harvesting machinery and irrigation equipment,” he said.
This will see Serbia partially manufacturing agriculture machinery and equipment in Zimbabwe.
“Serbia will be manufacturing 30 percent of machinery while the remaining 70 percent will be done in Zimbabwe,’ he said.

Minister Made said this would give Zimbabwe the opportunity to resuscitate agriculture industry and lead to employment of many people.
The two parties also discussed on agro-processing as another way of co-operation.
Minister Made said while local farmers were capable of producing there was need for adequate knowledge on processing of the produced commodities according to market requirements.

Thus local farmers could take advantage of the vast knowledge and experience of agro-processing from Serbia.
“We agreed to work together so that we can have our processed agricultural commodities jointly put on the world market,” he said.
To consolidate this the two parties agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of agriculture.

A cluster of companies visiting Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa will follow this.
A delegation from Zimbabwe is also expected to visit Serbia to look their agriculture activities.

Minister Made said Serbia was one of the strong countries in the world in terms of good machinery and reasonable prices.
Amb Vujicic said his country was ready to assist Zimbabwe to achieve a complete turn around in its agriculture sector.

“We would want to boost our relations with Zimbabwe in the filed of agriculture.
“We understand Zimbabwe has an economic crisis but we would want to do our best to bring the best assistance to the people of Zimbabwe,” he said.

He expressed confidence that the exchange of delegations and signing of the MoU will see the revival of Zimbabwe’s agriculture as the two countries co-operate in agriculture.
Zimbabwe’s relationship with Serbia dates back to the liberation struggle.