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Elita Chikwati Agriculture Reporter
The Harare Agricultural Show has enabled most farmers to improve agricultural production and productivity through competition for prizes. Speaking at the Exhibition Park yesterday, Zimbabwe Agricultural Society agricultural produce chairman, Mr Ivan Craig, said there had been a remarkable improvement in the quality of produce brought for exhibition by farmers.
He said farmers were improving on quality and varieties every year as they strived to win the competitions.

“This year we have witnessed a great improvement in the quality and range of the agricultural produce brought for exhibition.
“Farmers are learning every year. We work with Agritex officers who are on the ground and we tell them what we expect for the exhibitions. By improving the quality to win at the show, farmers are actually improving on their productivity.

“We do not accept farmers who come to compete at the shows directly but they come through their local extension officers,” he said.
Mr Craig said the wide range and high quality produce were also a result of viability on the part of farmers.

“This shows that their projects are viable and farmers can afford to buy extra inputs that contributed to the high quality of their produce,” he said.
He said farmers had also improved on the preservation methods of agricultural crops.

The exhibitions stay for more than a week but they do not lose their quality.
Mr Craig said the presence of varieties of crops such as squash, turnip, carrots among other special produce, showed that farmers were now aware of market dictates and carried out surveys before growing certain varieties of crops.

“We are confident that farmers are gaining knowledge by participating at the agricultural shows,” he said.
There are 750 farmers participating this year’s agricultural show compared to 775 last year.

Mr Craig said farmers from Matabeleland and Masvingo could not participate this year as they faced some financial challenges.