Staff Reporter
Vice President and Health and Child Care Minister, General (Retired) Dr Constantino Chiwenga has warned people to be more vigilant and follow all preventative measures as the COVID-19 Omicron variant has now been detected in Zimbabwe.
The Vice President said this while officiating at a Federation of Young Farmers Clubs Awards ceremony in Harare yesterday. Vice President Chiwenga implored Zimbabweans to get vaccinated and continue following World Health Organisation guidelines.
“We have done genomic sequencing and we now have the virus in the country. Let’s all follow COVID-19 preventative measures and get vaccinated,” he said.
On Tuesday this week, President Mnangagwa reviewed lockdown measures in order to deal with the risk presented by the new variant.
Meanwhile, Vice President Chiwenga, who was the Guest of Honour at the awards ceremony organised by the Federation of Young Farmers Clubs, spoke on the contribution of young farmers to the Agricultural Recovery Plan and the Food Systems Transformation Strategy.
“The Agriculture Recovery Plan is being implemented in a space where the agriculture and food systems transformation strategy broadly spells out the roadmap of ensuring an 8.2 billion-dollar agriculture industry,” he said.
The Vice President said that young farmers had a critical role to play in the Agricultural Recovery Plan to bolster national food security which begins at household level.
Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka challenged young farmers to treat farming as a serious business as the country is poised for another bumper harvest this summer cropping season.
“It is high time young farmers take Agriculture seriously as a business. We are expecting a bumper harvest this farming season with a good rainfall pattern expected this season,” he said.
The young farmers were awarded for excelling in the agricultural sector at the ceremony held at the Zimbabwe Agriculture Society (ZAS) Exhibition Park in Harare.
Several young farmers walked away with prizes in different categories that include horticulture, pig and dairy producer of the year.
