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Elita Chikwati Senior Agriculture Reporter
Preparations for the 2017 Harare Agricultural Show have started, with the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society (ZAS) saying registrations for exhibitors have already surpassed last year’s figures.

The show will run from August 21 to 24 under the theme “Seed to Food: Innovate, Consolidate, Sustain”.

ZAS head programmes and public affairs Ms Roberta Katunga on Friday said preparations for the annual event were in progress and registrations were 16 percent above the comparative period last year.

“This year’s theme is a value chain- based approach to food production and security,” she said. ‘We have three new sections – cotton, Eleven-Tonne Club and Minex (mining-agriculture interface).

“We have a line-up of business interfaces during the show week as a way of bringing together various business stakeholders and value chain actors.”

Ms Katunga said they added new commercial stands competitions where companies benchmark their standards and compete for various sponsored trophies which distinguish them in their chosen sphere of business during 2017.

“For the benefit of showgoers, we have increased gate capacity by 60 percent to ease congestion. We have also improved security to include the use of drones in the Exhibition Park, as well as availing more parking space,” said Ms Katunga.

The gate charges have remained at $5 for adults and $1 for children.