Source: Agro-industrial parks way to go: President | The Herald
Zvamaida Murwira
Senior Reporter
Innovation and agro-industrial parks at institutions of higher learning are an important tool for agricultural value addition and competitiveness as well as a strategy to support the development of a multiplicity of agricultural food value chains, President Mnangagwa has said.
He said strategic national institutions such as universities and tertiary institutions will accelerate the establishment of rural industry systems through agro-industrial parks, which he said were a way by the Second Republic to capacitate youths to develop practical skills of undertaking sustainable farming as a business.
President Mnangagwa said this yesterday while commissioning an Innovation and Agro-industrial Park at Marondera University of Agriculture, Science and Technology (MUAST), in Mashonaland East Province.
The innovation and agro-industrial park dovetails with the Government’s Education 5.0 model, which focuses on production of goods and services for the good of the country in line with National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1).
The university has partnered the community and local farmers where they have put more than 300 hectares of crops drawing water from Muchekeranwa Dam which was commissioned by President Mnangagwa in May last year.
“These facilities are not the ultimate end goal, but part of a bigger and holistic strategy designed at transforming our agricultural sector for the sustainable socio-economic development of our country. Furthermore, they are envisaged to accelerate our country’s attainment of the National Development Strategy, Vision 2030 and United Nations SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals),” said the President while addressing thousands of people who attended the event.
“I call upon the youth of our country to occupy the space and play their role in the agriculture sector and guarantee our national food self-sufficiency.”
The President said riding on the Government approach and the development of agro-business value chains, championed by the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture, coupled with the Local Content Strategy, it was his expectation that multi-pronged specialised services would be deployed to make the agro-industrial parks a resounding success.
“To this end, institutions of higher learning and other stakeholders must give due attention to aspects such as agricultural mechanisation, modern processing technologies, packaging of perishable products and phytosanitary issues, among other interventions.
“These should see improved productivity, quality and competitiveness of our products for both the local and export markets,” he said.
Some of the beneficiaries of Muchekeranwa Dam Out-grower Irrigation Scheme and their traditional leadership at the launch
Industrial Parks, he said, must provide a platform for researchers to apply several technologies to develop new plant and animal varieties as well as for smart farming strategies.
“Therefore, I further challenge our universities to responsively improve and adapt the ecosystem that drives innovation and industrialisation within our Agro-Industrial Parks and Innovation Hubs,” said President Mnangagwa.
“Equally important is the need for our institutions of higher learning to develop models of best practices with regards to efficiency of post-harvest handling, processing and marketing operations. Agro-Industrial Parks are exhorted to ultimately provide rural development services to the local community such as refrigeration, storage and links to both domestic and export markets.”
Leveraging on the University’s location, President Mnangagwa said mutually beneficial synergies must be formed with surrounding communities to support several distinct areas within the agriculture value chain.
The President said with the accelerated establishment of dams for irrigation, Zimbabwe will soon be getting to wheat self-sufficiency and will no longer be affected by the global shocks such as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“This year is the first year in the history of this country that we are going to have wheat enough for 13 months, we no longer need to import. We must produce whatever we eat, whatever we put on because we have the land,” he said.
Turning to calls from some civil society members calling for the secession of the country, President Mnangawa said Zimbabwe remained a unitary state and it could not be divided along ethnic lines or language.
“It does not matter which language you speak. Our national constitution recognises the 16 languages and all of them are important,” he said.
Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, commended the Marondera University of Agricultural Science and Technology for spearheading the development of agriculture in the country taking advantage of Muchekerwa Dam.
“This is only possible because of the availability of water within its vicinity. Water is life. Through this agro-industrial park, the university will contribute towards the attainment of food security which is the key pillar of NDS1,” she said.
It was pleasing, said Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri, that the university would be providing its students subsidised food owing to the production of crops it was undertaking.
Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Minister, Professor Amon Murwira, said it was imperative that institutions of higher learning play their part to provide the required national capabilities.
“Gone are the days when we used to prime our graduates to work for others and not for themselves,” he said.
Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution responsible for Mashonaland East province, Aplonia Munzverengwi, who was represented by National Housing Minister Daniel Garwe said it was pleasing that the university was one of the youngest institutions of higher learning showing potential for growth, as agro-industrial parks will be a model to be emulated by others.
Students were excited by the establishment of an agro-industrial park at their institution saying it will provide them with practical skills.
Students Representative council president, Darlington Soya, said the agro-industrial park will enable students do their industrial attachment on the projects being run by the institution.
“This launch, as students, we are happy and we welcome it. This shows our university is aware of the Education 5.0 as is emphasized by even our Minister Amon Murwira. This is beneficial to students who will be now be exposed to the practical side of their studies while at this institution.”
Ngoni Makuyana, an Agricultural Science student said: “This launch is beneficial to us as learners and we will benefit much. It is an advantage to learners to do hands-on and have an exposure to the practical side of our studies. We will be doing theories as well as practicals, it is a step into the right direction.”
Another student, Amelyn Moyo doing crop science said: “This programme is going to assist us students as we study, to know exactly what we are doing. We are no longer in that era of only doing theories at our institutions. The practical side is very crucial and this programme is helpful. We welcome it.”
Natural Resources student Tafadzwa Mawire commended the establishment of the Innovation and Agro-Industrial Park adding that it is a plus for their learning journey.
He said students will be well equipped with skills that will help them after finishing their studies and also will impact on surrounding communities.
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