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Fungai Lupande Mash Central Bureau
A team of investors from Belarus is interested in developing 10 000 hectares of land in the Kanyemba area, Mbire District, for agriculture production, provincial administrator Mr Cosmos Chiringa has said.

The team visited Kanyemba a fortnight ago.

The visit was precipitated by President Mnangagwa’s tour of Eurasian countries last month to mobilise investment for the country. Mr Chiringa said the investors, led by Mr Alex Semekhin, visited Kanyemba area on February 1 and they took soil samples of the land they were interested in.

“Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Cde Vangelis Haritatos accompanied the investors to Kanyemba who are interested in 10 000ha for agriculture development,” he said.

“They were also talking about investing in value addition of agricultural products. They inquired on the types of crops that do well in Kanyemba and our Agritex officials revealed that maize, soyabeans, cotton and sorghum were ideal. They also inquired about dairy farming in Kanyemba and veterinary services officials said the area was tsetse fly infested and hence dairy farming was not viable.

“They were shown the land and they took soil samples of the area they want to work on. They are interested in maize, sugar cane and oil seed production and they also visited Zambezi River which is source of water for irrigation. They were happy with the proximity of the water source.” Mr Chiringa emphasised the need to expedite development projects in Kanyemba, which is now on the national calendar.

“The President was in Belarus telling the world that Zimbabwe is open for business and barely three days after his return, we received a team of investors in Kanyemba area,” said Mr Chiringa.

“We need to move with speed in developing Kanyemba. The ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’ mantra is a reality and the President’s visit is yielding results.”