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Elita Chikwati–Senior Agriculture Reporter 

A major local pest control company, Agricair (Private) Limited, will be helped by Government to buy the foreign currency it needs to acquire more aircraft as part of efforts to curb the spread of pests and diseases. 

Agricair operates at Charles Prince Airport in Mount Hampden on the outskirts of Harare.

It offers spraying services to both commercial and small scale farmers to protect crops from diseases and pest invasions. The company used to have seven aircraft, but is now left with one, and this caused problems this year in the battle against quelea birds. 

Recently, the wheat crop in Midlands Province was significantly affected by quelea birds, but the company could not attend to the pest as it was spraying oranges in Beitbridge. 

Agricair said it was in the process of acquiring an extra aircraft and spare parts to put some of its other machines back into service. 

The Minister of State in Charge of Monitoring the Implementation of Special Agricultural and Related Programmes in the Office of the President, Davis Marapira, toured the Agricair and assured management that Government will look into the issue and find ways of helping them. “They (Agricair) will get the best facilities from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe,” he said. “They should be given a priority because agriculture is important in the economy.