Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
GOVERNMENT will before the end of this month distribute satellite-linked iPads and about 1 000 motorbikes to agricultural extension workers countrywide to capacitate them to execute their duties.

Agritex has close to 5 000 extension workers and 505 supervisors while the veterinary extension staff establishment is close to 2 000.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Anxious Masuka said agriculture is key in transforming the country into an upper middle-income economy by 2030 hence the need for capacity building both for extension workers and communities.

He said the Second Republic had set up a separate training department in the Ministry of Agriculture to enhance training and help transform communities from subsistence to commercial farming.

Speaking during a recent tour of Bubi-Lupane Irrigation Scheme in the Mpofu area of Lupane, Dr Masuka said Government will continue to capacitate extension workers so they can reach all communities as business advisors in agricultural activities.

“The Second Republic cannot deliver the mandate to become an upper middle-income society which leaves no one behind without agriculture. It is agriculture that is going to uplift this community to be part of the vision.

“Our role as technocrats is to provide adequate information to capacitate communities to have a paradigm shift from subsistence to commerce. People in the villages are quite happy to get a tonne of maize because that is more than subsistence, but that’s not the potential of the scheme. There is potential for each farmer to produce 5 to 6 tonnes through irrigation hence we hope that capacitation training for farmers and Agritex is vital,” said Dr Masuka.

He said the ministry had restructured some of its departments and introduced a training department.

“We have actually restructured the ministry and created a new portfolio of director training to come up with new radical transformative training and capacitation programme for farmers and extension workers,” said Dr Masuka.

Agricultural colleges are also expected to change their approach to training to produce extension workers suitably capacitated to transform agriculture.

“Before the end of this month each Agritex officer will have received satellite-linked iPads. We are also bringing more motorbikes and we think that by end of March everyone will be having one as we are already assembling 1 000 which will be distributed in the next two weeks or so as we will motorise them physically and in the mind. Agritex is the biggest link for development in the country and we cannot expect results without capacitating them,” said Dr Masuka.

He said this will be the only way to improve livelihoods of 70 percent of the population in the rural areas towards Vision 2030.

The motorbikes are part of the 5 000 mobilised by President Mnangagwa last year when he handed 500 to the ministry, as part of Government’s efforts to capacitate and upgrade agricultural extension workers to enable them to carry out their work more effectively.

Dr Masuka expressed satisfaction with progress made at Bubi-Lupane Irrigation Scheme which is set to benefit about 90 farmers.

The irrigation scheme will draw water from the 40 million cubic-metre Bubi-Lupane Dam situated about 5km from Lupane centre, the capital of Matabeleland North Province.

In total the irrigation project will have 200ha spread over two pieces of land in Mpofu and Mqoqi areas. The 180ha are in Mpofu Village in Gwampa and the beneficiaries will be villagers from Mpofu, Shabula, Lupanda and parts of St Luke’s.

The remaining 20ha will be cleared later in Mqoqi Village west of Lupane Centre once it is established that the dam can sustain both projects.

The project had initially been earmarked for Mqoqi area but villagers resisted saying they feared they might lose grazing land for their livestock.

Government then moved the project to Mpofu village where the 180ha have been cleared.

The 180ha have been fenced and tractors and centre pivots are on the ground while laying of pipes has been done awaiting connection by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority before electricity can also be connected. The irrigation project is expected to transform livelihoods in Lupane, one of the committee members Mrs Siphathisiwe Makhuwi from Mpofu Village said. — @ncubeleon.