Online Reporter
Theseus Shambare
GLOBAL partnerships and crowd funding by the private sector are key pillars driving the country’s agricultural revolution, which seeks to ensure Zimbabwe achieves food security and sovereignty.
In an interview soon after the Agritechnica Show in Hannover, Germany, Agricultural Engineering, Mechanisation and Farm Infrastructure Development chief director Engineer Edwin Zimunga said Zimbabwe is strengthening collaboration with international partners to boost national food security through modernisation, mechanisation and technology transfer.
“We have seen in Germany the full spectrum of agricultural industrialisation — from machinery and irrigation to artificial intelligence, automation and robotics,” said Eng Zimunga.
“The technologies on display cover everything from land preparation to post-harvest and these are lessons we intend to adapt and localise for Zimbabwe’s context.”
He said the Government’s thrust was to ensure that agriculture evolves into a modern, fully industrialised sector capable of sustaining the nation’s food needs and contributing to economic growth in line with Vision 2030.
“As we journey towards 2030, we are working to meet our target of 40 000 tractor units and expand climate-proof agriculture to more than one million hectares,” he said.
“We are not reinventing the wheel. We are adopting, adapting and custom-making global technologies to suit our local environment.”
Eng Zimunga said the country is moving towards precision agriculture, integrating GIS mapping, artificial intelligence, and energy innovations to make farming more efficient and climate-resilient.
“Engineering is redefining agriculture to become the backbone of an industrialised Zimbabwe.
“Government will continue to drive this transformation through partnerships that promote sustainability and competitiveness,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s envoy to Germany, Ambassador Alice Mashingaidze, said the fair provided valuable exposure to advanced soil technologies, mechanisation systems and value chain innovations.
“As Zimbabwe, we believe Vision 2030 will be achieved through mechanisation and soil technology,” said Ambassador Mashingaidze.
“We have seen solutions that will help transform our agriculture from smallholder-level production to fully-fledged agribusiness models that drive economic growth.”
She said Zimbabwean Embassy in Germany will continue to facilitate partnerships to enhance Zimbabwe’s agricultural transformation and ensure lasting food security.
