Zimbabweans challenged to appreciate value of land

Zimbabweans to appreciate the value and role of land in the indigenisation and economic empowerment programmes.
Ambassador Pournajaf said the value of any people was in their own realisation of the potential their resources had in changing their socio-economic and political situation.
“If you want to be independent, you have to go through a revolution, which implies a shifting of original base of things and replacing with a new one. In this case, Zimbabwe went through a revolution and must now bring out its true identity and potential through full utilisation of the land,” he said.
He was addressing students and staff at the Chaminuka Vocational Training Centre in Mt Darwin on Thursday.
Ambassador Pournajaf said Zimbabwe was fortunate to have a good climate and right soils that supported agriculture, adding that it was only sensible for the people to exploit these positives for the good of the economy and the country.
“In Iran, we receive only 250mm of rain per year and we used to import 10 million tonnes of wheat to boost food security. We realised that after getting independence in 1979, we had to do a lot of research, bree-ding trials and irrigation development to boost agricultural productivity. Now we produce a surplus of 2 million tonnes of wheat yearly,” he said.
He said that his country was willing to engage Zimbabwe in matters of technical co-operation, entrepreneurship, capacity building and mechanisation of the agricultural sector among others.
“Iran will bring its factories to manufacture vital implements such as tractors here in Zimbabwe to make sure the agrarian revolution is successful. We will also make our presence felt through capacity building programmes and technology transfer especially in the fields of agriculture, health and education,” Ambassador Pournajaf said.
Zimbabwe and Iran last year signed an agreement on youth co-operation to build a vibrant youth base for the country that will in future continue with the political and economic current revolution.
Earlier in the day, the Iranian embassy donated medical drugs worth US$10 912 to Mt Darwin Hospital to boost its capacity to deliver services to its catchment area.
Ambassador Pournajaf said the donation was meant to cushion the poor citizens of the area from the harsh effects of the illegal sanctions purported to be targeting government officials yet they were actually hurting the less privileged citizens.
Accepting the donation, Mt Darwin South legislator and Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment, Saviour Kasukuwere, said the illegal sanctions were hurting young poor people because the country’s leadership chose to re-possess what was rightfully theirs.
He said Zimbabweans should now gear themselves for an economic war and be determined to pull through the difficult times through hard work.