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Runesu Gwidi Masvingo Correspondent
Farmers here have hailed plans by Government to produce organic fertiliser using coal, saying the development will give further impetus to ongoing efforts to revive the country’s agricultural sector.

The development, the farmers added, was also going to influence a reduction in the price of fertiliser while ensuring that there were sufficient stocks of the key commodity.

Government, through the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, is working on modalities to start manufacturing organic fertiliser from coal.

Zimbabwe Farmers Union Masvingo’s regional manager Mr Jeremiah Chimwanda yesterday described the planned move as a major milestone towards full capacitation of the country’s agricultural sector. Mr Chimwanda said manufacturing organic fertiliser from coal locally would end perennial shortages of the commodity on the market.

“The technological initiative to manufacture fertiliser from coal is a welcome development by the Government, the move will guarantee the availability of fertiliser on the local market and also its affordability to farmers,” he said.

“We are very excited by this development (to manufacture organic fertiliser from coal) and the move will obviously cushion farmers from sky-rocketing market price of fertiliser, which has been making it very expensive to produce crops such as maize in Zimbabwe,” Mr

Chimwanda said.

Other farmers said if fully implemented, the organic fertiliser manufacturing initiative will help to quickly restore Zimbabwe’s position as the regional bread basket.

Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira said Zimbabwe was endowed with natural resources that could be value-added to ensure speedy socio-economic development.

Prof Murwira said Government was almost through with modalities to start production of fertiliser from coal.

“If our nation takes technology seriously, we would not import anything.

“The country is endowed with under-utilised multifarious natural resources,” he said.