Source: Wheat farmers receive combine harvesters | Sunday Mail (Top Stories)

Sunday Mail Reporter

GOVERNMENT has dispatched two combine harvesters to each of the country’s 10 provinces in a move set to speed up wheat harvesting ahead of the rainy season.

The combine harvesters are part of the US$51 million mechanisation facility from Belarus, which was launched by President Mnangagwa last week. Speaking at a field day to test the combine harvesters at Justice Paddington Garwe’s farm yesterday, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement, Dr Anxious Masuka, said the move was proof of Government efforts to revive the agriculture sector.

“We came here to evaluate the efficiency of this combine harvester. Firstly, it can do 30 hectares a day on an even field, secondly, it cuts wheat of even higher moisture content to 25 percent,” said Dr Masuka.

“A recent report by CBZ Bank shows that we have serious shortages of farming equipment in the country,” said Prof Mugano.

President Mnangagwa last week launched the first batch of equipment in an agriculture mechanisation facility made up of 163 tractors, 19 combine harvesters, 52 seed mills and four lowbed trucks.

All equipment in the first phase of the facility will be delivered by December while in the second phase an assembly plant will be established in Zimbabwe.

This facility follows a similar facility in June with John Deere, an American manufacturer.