Centres of excellence critical for agric transformation Dr John Basera

Munya Simango
Correspondent

Agricultural Centres of Excellence that were established under the EU-funded Zimbabwe Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Services (ZAKIS) project are now fully operational. A senior Government official has said that the centres will play a pivotal role in the country’s agricultural reform strategy.

As focal points of the ZAKIS intervention, the centres are tasked with demonstrating best practices in crop and livestock production while providing research and knowledge.

Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement permanent secretary Dr John Basera said that the ZAKIS project plays a pivotal role in the country’s agricultural transformation strategy.

“As a platform for knowledge sharing and innovation ZAKIS occupies a very significant space and scope in our Agriculture and Food Systems Strategy. Furthermore, the Agriculture and Food Systems Strategy also occupies a significant space and scope in the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) which will take us from 2021 right up to 2025 as we set the base and foundation for us to take on NDS2 which will take us to Vision 2030,” he said.

ZAKIS in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture established Agricultural Centres of Excellence at Chibero Agricultural College and Matopos Research Institute. These are complemented by ZimAgriHub, a virtual centre of excellence, and the District Agricultural Centres of Excellence which are located at Matobo, Chegutu, Insiza and Mhondoro-Ngezi.

Dr Basera said that the ACEs are key components to the agricultural transformation strategy because they are linked to farmers and they play the critical role of carrying out research, demonstrating good agricultural practices and disseminating information to farmers.

“For us to transform agriculture we need to close a fundamental gap or this puzzling divergence which is that our research yields are increasing while actual farm productivity is decreasing. We need to close that gap through knowledge sharing and learning events at the ACEs and ensure that information for improved productivity is effectively disseminated to farmers,” he said.

The ACES provide critical linkages and harmonise knowledge sharing among agricultural education, extension and research. Dr Basera said agricultural education, extension and research were the central ingredients to agricultural transformation and harmonising these three were critical to the strategy.

“Research can only be relevant if it adds value and makes an impact at farmer level. Therefore to transform our agriculture sector, we need robust and grounded research that is informed by farmer insights.”

He said that the Ministry of Agriculture has put in place the right mechanisms to ensure the sustainability of the ACEs and knowledge sharing activities beyond the ZAKIS project’s funding cycle.

“Our work is not going to stop when the project closes. The centres are housed at our agricultural colleges to ensure long term sustainability of the activities,” said Dr Basera.

The ZAKIS project which falls under the Zimbabwe Agricultural Growth Programme seeks to improve farmers’ livelihoods by enhancing the dissemination of agricultural knowledge and stimulating innovation.

It is implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture with the support from a consortium of local and international agriculture specialist NGOs which includes Welthungerhilfe, Community Technology Development Organisation, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and Sustainable Agriculture Technology.

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