Mat-North Correspondent

Hwange farmers have hailed the Government for the capacity building workshops being conducted by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement in that area, saying that these would develop their skills to increase production on their farms.

Farmers who attended a capacity building workshop at Lukosi Irrigation Scheme in Hwange yesterday said they are ready to apply the information they received to renew their agricultural practices.

“I really want to thank the Government for such a workshop. The information we acquired made us realize the mistakes we were making in our farming practices. We were lagging behind as far as modern methods of farming were concerned. With the information we got from these experts, our farming will never be the same again, we will utilize the knowledge to increase production on our farms,” said Ethel Mwenga.

Another farmer, Buthelezi Moyo, said he is eagerly waiting for the rains to implement the knowledge he got from the workshop.

“I can’t wait for the rains to start, to put into practice the knowledge I got from this workshop. I discovered that we were not reaping much from our farm toil because of wrong agricultural practices we were using,” said Moyo.

Chief Youths Programs Coordinator in the Ministry, Nickros Kajengo who is leading a team of agricultural experts in Hwange, said the only magic needed by a farmer to increase production is good agricultural practices.

“There is no magic in farming. The only magic is to implement good agricultural practices as advised by experts. Our farmers should embrace the new methods of farming and always know that farming is now a business and not a side hustle,” said Kajengo.

Kajengo added that the capacity building workshops are mainly targeting youths, given that the agricultural sector has potential to employ a large number of them.

“In many ways, young people are not always interested in agriculture because they don’t see much prospect in the future of agriculture. They don’t see it as an active profession in the long run. These workshops are therefore meant to change that mindset and advice the youths that agriculture is a viable sector that can positively transform their lives if they take it seriously,” said Kajengo.

Kajengo added that in areas, where they have conducted the capacity building workshops, it was realized that farmers were starved of information on good agricultural practices and he would push for the workshops to be conducted in every District in the country as a way of empowering farmers.