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Victor Maphosa Mashonaland East Bureau

In a bid to ensure quality education is delivered to the people in every corner of the country, the Government of Zimbabwe has ensured that there is at least one State university in every province, thereby enabling eligible learners to access higher education closer to their homes.

The State universities tend to specialise in particular academic disciplines.

Mashonaland East now has a State university in Marondera, established well after independence, but is rapidly expanding both academically and geographically.

Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (MUAST) is a modern and unique institution of higher learning established through an Act of Parliament in 2015.

It is the only university in Zimbabwe with a prime specialisation in agricultural sciences. It is the provincial pride.

MUAST started as part of the University of Zimbabwe in 2012 as the University of Zimbabwe Marondera College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology. In August 2013, the college then began operations at its 1 020 ha Dozmery Farm, now the agro-industrial park, which is situated 40km away from Marondera town centre.

In 2015, the college witnessed the promulgation of the MUAST Act and was declared an independent university in August 2017 after the appointment of its first council. 

In 2018, MUAST established another campus at the Cold Storage Company premises in Marondera town. 

Then in January 2019, its founding Vice Chancellor Professor Justice Nyamangara, was appointed. The second MUAST council, the first registrar and bursar and faculty deans were also appointed. 

The university has seen an exponential growth of students. 

MUAST initially started with 20 students in August 2013 and by 2018 the student enrolment had increased to 67 and then 153 in 2019. 

The student enrolment currently stands at 543, including postgraduate students.

MUAST began as a small institution offering two Bachelor of Science Honours degrees in Crop Science and Animal Science, under the guidance of UZ. 

Since then, MUAST has expanded its academic offerings to include 14 BSc Honours degrees, Seven MSc degrees and MPhil and DPhil degrees. Some of the new degrees that have been recently approved by ZIMCHE are Bachelor of Technology in Food Processing and Technology, Bachelor of Science Honours in Applied Geographic Information Science and Earth Observation, Postgraduate Diploma in Higher and Tertiary Education, and Masters in Agribusiness Management

All academic departments were fully established in 2019.

In terms of infrastructure development, MUAST boasts of an Agro-Industrial Park which started operating in 2019. 

The agro-industrial park was commissioned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on July 8, 2022. 

The infrastructure development initiatives currently ongoing at the park include the construction of the African Indigenous Vegetable Institute block, which is 95 percent complete and will house two offices and two laboratories.

The institution is developing its state-of-the-art main campus at Marondera Campus (formerly Cloverhill Farm), a vast 789ha site that is located about 6,5km from Marondera Town. 

The campus will have a teaching complex and a central analytical services laboratory, which is now 80 percent complete .

The campus will also feature an environmental science and food processing and technology laboratory, which is 88 percent complete and expected to be operational soon.

In an interview with The Herald, Professor Nyamangara said the university is also into community engagement initiatives aimed at improving the livelihoods of the public.

“Our engagement with the Machangara community, which was displaced by the Muchekeranwa dam construction, is part of our commitment to Education 5.0 and community service. The community consists of 48 families who have access to 30 hectares of irrigated land which we plan to increase to 90 hectares soon. 

“We are collaborating with them to promote safe and sustainable agricultural practices. We also support them in the production of wheat and commercial maize. In the previous year, they harvested 163 tonnes of commercial maize and 57,6 tonnes of winter wheat,” he said.

Going forward, Professor Nyamangara said MUAST envisaged being the leading institution of excellence locally and beyond borders. It has achieved remarkable progress in the past few years, and faced very few obstacles to attaining higher levels of excellence. 

“The university has a vision to become a leading institution of innovation and excellence in Zimbabwe and beyond. To achieve this, we have several strategic goals that we are pursuing. One of them is the construction of an innovation hub, which will be a state-of-the-art facility that will provide a conducive environment for research, development, and innovation. 

“The innovation hub will house laboratories, workshops, incubation centres, and exhibition spaces that will enable our students and staff to collaborate with industry partners and other stakeholders. The innovation hub will offer training and mentorship programmes to nurture the skills and talents of our young innovators and entrepreneurs from the community.

“Another goal is to improve our agricultural productivity and sustainability. We have a farm that we use for teaching, research, and income generation. We want to expand our farm activities by increasing the area under irrigation from 260ha to 400ha, which will allow us to grow more crops throughout the year. 

Increased fishery production is also anticipated through constructing more ponds and introducing new species of fish. Furthermore, the university plans to increase its livestock population from 114 cattle and 100 goats to more than 500 cattle and 5 000 goats, which will improve our meat and milk supply. We will also implement best practices in animal husbandry, health and welfare.

“Furthermore, we want to establish an agro-processing facility that will enable us to process and carry out value addition of our farm produce as well as those from the Muchekeranwa community. We also want to establish sustainable value chains to increase the efficiency of our operations at the AIP.’’

An out-grower scheme involving farmers in surrounding communities is planned.

“Finally, we want to expand our out-grower scheme that involves working with smallholder farmers in the nearby communities. We want to provide them with technical assistance and extension services that will help them improve their farming practices and yields. We hope that by doing this, we will enhance food security, reduce poverty and foster social cohesion in our community.

“MUAST is also pursuing two major goals shortly. The first goal is to complete the building of the teaching complex and the labs at Marondera Campus. The second goal is to construct student hostels and an engineering workshop at the same campus. The student hostels will provide accommodation for more than 500 students, while the engineering workshop will house state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for engineering courses. 

“These projects will enable the university to achieve the dictates of the heritage-based Education 5.0 philosophy and Vision 2030, now revised to Vision 2028,” he said.