This comes as the Southern Africa region is expected to boost its agricultural output in the upcoming 2021-2022 season with forecasts of normal to above-normal rainfall for the region.

The mobile farming platform said it was critical for farmers to begin land preparations early so as to provide the necessary soil conditions that enhance the successful germination of seeds and ensure a good start to the season.

“We expect our farmers to have started land preparations and winter ploughing soon after harvesting their crops to allow the soil to trap moisture and at the same time utilise crop residues from the previous season,” VAYA Technologies Zimbabwe chief executive officer, Mr Givemore Jojo, said.

VDF, whose goal is to provide digital farming solutions that assist farmers across Africa to reduce costs, improve their productivity and increase their incomes, is inviting farmers with no machinery to utilise its mobile platform to hire quality equipment for land preparations.

“We understand that some farmers do not have equipment for tilling the land, but they should not despair as we have a platform that connects those with equipment and those with land that is in need of preparation,” said Mr Jojo.

The VDF tractor platform allows farmers to hire, book and pay for farming equipment directly from their mobile phones — from wherever they are — by simply dialing *902#.

The platform provides an assortment of farming equipment, ranging from tractors, rippers, sprayers, spreaders, planters, disc ploughs, harrows and combine harvesters among others.

Agricultural experts have spoken on the need for farmers to adopt sustainable agriculture mechanisation, which scales agricultural productivity and allows multiple tasks to be completed efficiently, leading to greater crop yields while sustainably conserving natural resources.

VDF said deploying technology and mechanisation would boost yields and help farmers in Africa transition from subsistence farming to market-oriented, high productivity farming.

“This in turn appeals to the rural youth, who have tended to seek employment in urban settings rather than engaging in farming. By easing the intensity of labour involved in subsistence farming, mechanisation will ensure higher outputs for farmers regardless of their age,” Mr Jojo said.

Research has shown that mechanisation can relieve labour shortages, shorten the time of agricultural operations, ensure the efficient use of resources, enhance market access by allowing farmers to sell more than just the raw products, and contribute to mitigating environmental damage, such as soil degradation.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) lack of farming equipment has compromised farmers’ ability to cultivate sufficient land and has been recognised as a source of poverty, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Sustainable agricultural mechanisation can contribute significantly to the development of value chains and food systems as it has the potential to render postharvest processing and marketing activities and functions more efficient, effective and environmentally friendly,” said FAO.