ZIMBABWE will host an international conference on dry land agriculture in Masvingo meant to map the way forward on how countries can make use of dry conditions to enhance production, an official has said.<\/p>\n
The conference has been slated for July and will be attended by 47 countries from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) bloc.<\/p>\n
Addressing Great Zimbabwe University\u2019s Gary Magadzire School of Agriculture and Natural Sciences staff during an inter-ministerial meeting on dry land agriculture last week, Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development director Ms Rungano Karimanzira said the conference will set the tone for the institution\u2019s ambitious project of setting up an agricultural dry land research centre in Chivi.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to have an international conference on dry land here in Masvingo some time in July. We have previously held two meetings on innovation and this one is the third.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the week-long workshop will be graced by global technocrats as it was orgnanised from a multilateral perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to appreciate that the GZU planned project in Chivi is being observed by NAM members. The conference is based on multilateral partnership that we enjoy as a country and that is the reason why we have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. We are going to have experts on dry land agriculture as drought is not confined to Zimbabwe only. The planned research centre in Chivi will receive backing from renowned scientists with a bias on dry land agriculture. I want to assure Chief Madyangove that this won\u2019t be a small thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
GZU\u2019s Gary Magadzire School of Agriculture and Natural Sciences chairman Dr Michael Mubvuma said the setting up of the research centre was necessitated by low plant yields in Chivi District and the need to address food security challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany crops in Chivi are affected by water stress, so are cattle and that translates to low income for peasant farmers. So it is against this background that GZU decided to establish a research engine to address the situation. The focus is on small grains as well as animals,\u201d said Dr Mubvuma.<\/p>\n
He said Chivi was receiving low rainfall every year, making the growing of maize and other crops susceptible to dry conditions, unproductive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have key drivers of low yields and that include climate change, flash floods and human stress emanating to lack of correct agricultural knowledge. The farmer may fail to know the right planting date as planting too early or too late affects yields. We are guided by Education model 5.0 which underscores the importance of innovation and science.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chief Madyangove welcomed the setting up of the research centre saying it has already started to benefit the youths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ZIMBABWE will host an international conference on dry land agriculture in Masvingo meant to map the way forward on how countries can make use of dry conditions to enhance production, an official has said. The conference has been slated for July and will be attended by 47 countries from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) bloc. Addressing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":8203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[226,1344],"class_list":{"0":"post-19850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-masvingo","10":"tag-non-aligned-movement"},"yoast_head":"\n