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Freedom Mupanedemo Midlands Bureau
Sherwood area on the outskirts of Kwekwe is a large farming community covering over 2 000 hectares of prime land, most of which is under irrigation, hence its eye-catching ever-green canvas.

Before the land reform programme, the area was owned by a single white farmer, but now hosts up to 45 A2 farmers, among them, the country’s first citizen, President Mnangagwa.

And there seems to be serious competition among the Sherwood farmers, with President Mnangagwa, taking time from his busy schedule, to till the land and contribute to the national food basket.

On Sunday, the Head of State and Government exhibited his farming skills when he hosted leaders of different opposition political parties for Unity Day celebrations at his Precabe Farm in Sherwood.

A total of 18 political parties under the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) out of the 23 parties that contested the 2018 harmonised elections, converged at the President’s farm where they left the 405ha farm inspired.

Of particular interest, was the President’s implementation of smart agriculture.

Smart farming is a management concept focused on providing the agricultural industry with infrastructure to leverage advanced technology — including big data, the cloud and the Internet of things (IoT) — for tracking, monitoring, automating and analysing operations.

Also known as precision agriculture, smart farming is software-managed and sensor-monitored.

President Mnangagwa has 350 hectares under irrigated soya and maize, managed by a computerised system.

The President said he had revamped the farm equipment and adopted smart farming to enhance productivity.

“We have accessed loans to replace the old irrigation equipment and we are now doing computerised farming. We do at least two harvests, the winter and summer harvest and after every harvest, I repay all my loans. Because I am not a bad debtor, every bank is always at my farm offering loans,” he said.

The President explained to the political leaders how he was balancing the pressure of trying to get Zimbabwe better, a task which he said needed collective action from the country’s political actors and other activities.

Opposition political party principals hailed President Mnangagwa’s farming prowess, saying Zimbabwe needed serious farmers like him for the country to reclaim its status as the bread basket of Southern Africa.

“It was a distinct Unity Day celebration. Unity Day celebrations of its kind in Zimbabwe are rare and this historic one that left us with many takeaways. We have witnessed the hospitality, the farming experience, the unity of purpose and the need to work together in peace and unity and harmony for a better Zimbabwe,” said MDC-T president, Dr Thokozani Khupe, after a tour of the farm.

“What we have witnessed here is amazing. President Mnangagwa is a real farmer, we only need about 200 people who are farming the way we have seen here for us to be able to feed the whole country.

“I think as political leaders, wherever we are going in our respective areas we need to strive and emulate this level of farming. It’s absolutely amazing.”

Mrs Lucia Matibenga of People’s Rainbow Coalition described President Mnangagwa as a farmer par excellence.

“This is a farmer par excellence. What we have just witnessed here is the type of farming that Zimbabwe deserves, more serious farmers like President Mnangagwa for us to eradicate hunger,” she said.

Mr Trust Chikohora of Coalition of Democrats said the tour of President Mnangagwa’s farm by political actors was an eye opener.

“This was really an eye-opener. We have learnt and we need to emulate this good work by our President. He is a farmer and he means it,” he said.

The political actors under Polad, who had gathered to review their successes of the year, were later treated to a banquet by the President.

Chefs from a private food company were at hand to serve everyone, from traditional dishes to international cuisine, everyone was spoiled for choice.

Guests could be seen enjoying their green mealies, a sight that proved Zimbabweans were a one people despite their political affiliations.

The political actors also had time for group photos and selfies with the  President.

Unifying songs that continued to be performed by the ever vibrant Police Band provided entertainment all day.