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Morris Mkwate in MALABO, Equatorial Guinea
The Turkish government is set to provide farm mechanisation and irrigation expertise to Zimbabwe under a proposed initiative aimed at increasing agricultural production and efficiency.
The two countries are already working on a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate the programme.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made, who discussed the plan with his Turkish counterpart, Mr Mehmet Mehdi Eker, here yesterday, said special focus would be on dairy farming, horticulture and training.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 23rd African Union Heads of State and Government Summit, which ran under the theme “Agriculture and Food Security”.
Dr Made said Zimbabwe had a great deal to learn from Turkey, which has developed massive farming and irrigation technologies over the years.
He would, however, not be drawn into divulging the implementation timeframes, but indicated the initiative was a top priority.
“I am happy to say there is a proposal for a Memorandum of Understanding that we are developing over the coming months,” said Dr Made.
“Of particular interest is obviously the field of mechanisation. Turkey is endowed in the sense of having developed the capacity.
“We would want capacity developed so that it is applied in the livestock (sector), in particular the dairy part of agriculture. Turkey has over the years developed the dairy industry, which is very important in today’s world.”
Dr Made said Zimbabwe was endowed with critical resources to build dairy production capacity, although expertise was required to further improve the sector.
He said Government was geared to ensure food security and nutrition especially for women and children.
The authorities are also seized the employment potential of the agricultural sub-sector.
“Industrially, the dairy sector has a multiplier effect because you start with producing the crop that you then feed to dairy cows,” said Dr Made.
“You then take the industrial, and deal with processing and the value chain in terms of the multiplier effect of the dairy sector.”
Government has set out to optimise agricultural productivity and efficiency under the auspices of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation’s Food Security and Nutrition cluster.
Turkey began mechanised farming over 50 years ago with the number of tractors now nearing one million and it has an estimated tractor-to-land ratio of 42 per hectare per tractor.
Online Reporter