Staff Reporter
The Engagement and Re-engagement policies by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his administration continue to yield results as evidenced by Government’s partnership with the South Korean government through the Program on International Agriculture (KOPIA) projects to improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers.
Speaking in an interview with this publication today at the 112th Zimbabwe Agricultural Show (ZAS) in Harare, KOPIA Projects Coordinator, Yemurai Magaya said that the mandate of her organization was to adopt South Korean technologies and to develop Zimbabwe`s locally adaptable technologies and then disseminate the technologies to small-scale farmers.
Magaya said that KOPIA was teaching small-scale farmers how to add value to their produce.
“Our mandate is to train our small-scale farmers on how to add value to their crops before selling them. For instance, we are teaching farmers in the lowveld of Zimbabwe who grow sesame seeds to add value to the crop before selling it. These farmers are from Mt Darwin and Muzarabani. KOPIA is educating these small-scale farmers how to extract oil, butter and cereal from the sesame seeds. This means that the farmers will earn more if they are to put the end product on the market,” she said.
Furthermore, KOPIA is working together with the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC) in implementing this project.
She added that the outcomes of the projects, which include knowledge dissemination of good agricultural practices for sustainable production of sesame seed, introduction of technologies to improve farming outputs, establishment of seed production systems for sesame seed, improved seed dissemination to farmers, improved food and nutrition security, increased income and improved the livelihoods of farmers as well as improved application of sesame for improved health.
Value-added agriculture is a worthwhile investment that can generate higher returns and allow penetration of a new potentially high-value market.
Officially opening the Zimbabwe-Rwanda Trade and Investment Conference in the capital earlier this year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa called upon industrialists to enhance value addition and diversify export mix through competitive and efficient value chains.
