New ZFU boss pledges to transform agric sector
new Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) president Retired Major Abdul Credit Nyathi on Monday pledged to transform the agricultural sector by improving production in line with the country’s economic blueprint, Zim-Asset.
Rtd Maj Nyathi told The Herald that he would also strive to improve relations between service providers and farmers in remote areas.
“We are aiming to transform the agricultural sector as per the demands of Zim-Asset,” he said.
“We also want to make sure that service providers reach all farmers even those in remote areas.”
Apart from improving relations with service providers, the ZFU leader said training programmes would be strengthened.
“The majority of farmers lacks skills of growing and curing crops like tobacco yet they may have the potential to produce high quality crops. We aim to conduct more workshops very soon to equip farmers with growing and curing skills of such crops,” Rtd Major Nyathi said.
Rtd Major Nyathi, who was elected recently at the union’s congress, also reiterated his commitment to mobilise resources to support farmers with loans and other material needs.
“Our farmers should desist from waiting for government handouts,” he said.
“Farmers should acquire skills and be able to run farming seriously as a business and avoid over-reliance on handouts.”
He appealed to Government to make agricultural inputs available on time.
Rtd Maj Nyathi, who had been the vice president of ZFU for 17 years, took over from Mr Silas Hungwe.