Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE Government has capacitated all the eight agricultural colleges in the country with new tractors, accessory planters and motor cycles for student training, a development that provides learners with skills, knowledge and competencies.
This comes at a time agricultural colleges make use of the Agricultural Education for Development (AE4D) 5.0 curricula launched last year to transform their education system. In a speech read on his behalf by Deputy Minister Davis Marapira, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Dr Anxious Masuka at the Esigodini Agricultural College graduation ceremony on Friday called on the private sector and development partners to complement Government efforts.
“We have managed to capacitate all eight agricultural colleges with new tractors, accessory planters and motor cycles for student training. It is our hope that the private sector and development partners will complement Government efforts through public private partnerships (PPPs) to accelerate progress,” said Dr Masuka.
He said the graduating class of 66 students was the last cohort to undergo training under the Agricultural Education (AE) 2.0 model, while they have gone through part of the new AE4D 5.0 experience and are ready for the market.
Dr Masuka said he was looking forward to the new crop of agricultural graduates as agents of transformation.
He said his Ministry has recently superintended the launch of smallholder irrigation rehabilitation and the Presidential small livestock-poultry pass on scheme. The Minister said in light of President Mnangagwa’s pronouncement that no household and no village should be left behind the country moves towards the attainment of Vision 2030, Esigodini Agricultural College was train youths supported by the smallholder irrigation rehabilitation programme (SIRP).
“Today (Friday) 10 youths (six female and four male) on vocational training are graduating enhancing their capacities in agricultural development. This is quite a commendable effort which l urge all agricultural colleges to emulate,” added the Minister.
“The Ministry has last year formulated Provincial Youth Integrated Agricultural Development Centres (Youth Hubs) to act as incubators for youth venturing into agriculture and rural development.”
Dr Masuka said the partnership with Midlands State University ensures the Department of Agricultural Education and various colleges produce knowledgeable, skilled and entrepreneurial graduates required by the agricultural sector.
He said they should also rhyme with the education for development 5.0 thrust of producing goods and services, while complementing AE4D 5.0.
“I cherish the continued existence and support of the Midlands State University towards transforming and amplifying the contribution of our colleges to the growth of Zimbabwe as we march towards the realisation of Vision 2030.”
The Minister said his Ministry also recently launched the solarisation of agricultural colleges to ensure that the student learning programmes are not hampered, with the solarisation ensuring the proposed launch of the online farm owners, managers, supervisors’ course programmes are not hindered by power outages.
Esigodini Agricultural College principal Mr Sibangilizwe Dlodlo said the college has been innovative in several ways, with the introduction of greenhouse technology, garlic production and forage and fodder crop demos.
In terms of the 2021-2022 year plans, he said they were expanding the internet access to student halls and staff quarters in that order subsequent digitalising their training.
Mr Dlodlo added: “We are setting up an innovation platform for student-farmer interaction in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The partnership entails constructing a state of the art laboratory, setting up a modern automatic weather station, raising 20 hectares of goat pastures and a 400-doe unit over four years.”
United Nations Development Programme
He said the goat enterprise sought to produce breeding stock for five wards in Umzingwane as a first step but eventually come up with an Esigodini goat breed and the project was currently at procurement stage.
The best overall student was Mr Lungelo Dube who was best in crop production, wildlife management, irrigation, accounting and taxation, agric engineering, farm and agribusiness management, potato production and distinction student.
Among some of his prizes he walked away with irrigation accessories, solar lighting system, ox drawn plough, wheel barrow, shovels, shields, trophies and monetary packages among other things.
The development is one of the many undertaken by government to improve the education sector and people’s lives using local resources, despite the illegal sanctions imposed on the country by the West.
Sadc countries have declared October 25 as solidarity day against illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.