Staff Reporter

President Mnangagwa and his counterpart, President Alexander Lukashenko, yesterday jointly launched the second farm mechanization programme which is set to modernize the country’s agricultural sector.

During the launch, Zimbabwe took delivery of additional 1 300 tractors, 14 combine harvesters and several disc harrows.

Speaking during the launch, President Mnangagwa said that cooperation was vital and mentioned that for Zimbabwe to be food secure, it has to invest more in agriculture.

“Under the Second Republic, we took a resolve that we must be food secure. There are two possibilities; you achieve that on your own without support from anyone. The second possibility is you have a vision and you have a friend who shares that vision.

“When I visited Belarus in 2015 and 2019, I saw how mechanized Belarus agriculture was and I said this is the vision I also have for Zimbabwe. We would want a nation, as a people, to be food secure,” said President Mnangagwa.

President Mnangagwa added that he has hope that in the next five years, the country’s agriculture sector would have reached the levels of Belarus.

“We have the land in Zimbabwe and have rivers. Iam informed by the Ministry of Agriculture that Zimbabwe has 10 000 inland water bodies. That is more than the dams that exist in SADC. So we have decided to mechanize and modernize our agriculture and this we have achieved within three years. What follows now is to increase the yield per hectare. I hope in another three to five years, the level of agriculture mechanization in Zimbabwe will be as good as what I have seen in Belarus,” said President Mnangagwa.

Meanwhile, the launch of the Second Phase of the Belarus Farm Mechanization Programme would see Zimbabwe improving in agriculture production. The cooperation between Zimbabwe and Belarus is also testimony that the engagement and re-engagement policy is yielding fruits despite the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West.