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Fungai Lupande
Mash Central Bureau
The farm mechanisation programme run by the Government using equipment from Belarus has transformed farms run by the Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Service in Mashonaland Central pushing up yields through better production.

ZPCS received four tractors, one combine harvester, two planters, two boom sprayers and two disc ploughs under the programme.

Officer Commanding ZPCS Mashonaland Central, Commissioner Charity Gezi, thanked President Mnangagwa for capacitating prison farms. The prisons this season were able to increase hectares under production, being made up of  cotton, soya beans and cow peas which are highly nutritious.

“We are grateful to the Government for the farm equipment that we received. We are putting the equipment to good use in our quest to become food self-sufficient,” she said.

“Our four prison farms feed a population of more than 20 000 people including our officers. Prior, we relied on hoes and physical labour and sometimes we borrowed equipment.

“We used hands to plant and this affected our crop population. Things are different and have improved now with calibrated planters. We were affected by late rains but we are still planting and our crops are in a good condition.”

So far 181 hectares are under maize, 15 hectares under soya beans, five hectares of cotton and four hectares under cow peas, with more to come as the season progressed.

Last season ZPCS harvested 395 tonnes   of maize at three farms.

“At the moment we are food self-sufficient and we are hoping for better yields this season,” she said.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka toured ZPCS’ Guruve farm recently and said the Government was on a drive to capacitate security forces’ farms.

“We agreed with Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi that we needed to capacitate the ZPSC, police and ZNA and all security structures so that the more than 100 farms they own, which are largely under-resourced, are brought to production and are run as business units,” he said.

“In the first batch we gave them tractors and implements but we did not link them to production such as these. It was not based on what you needed but what was available.

There was need to move to the next level to see the business plan, mechanisation and irrigation plans for the next three to five years.

“Today we just visited to see what you have done with the equipment you received. You should not only concentrate on your self-sufficiency but you must run as a business entity and generate more resources.”

Dr Masuka assured Police Commissioner General Godwin Matanga that their 24 farms would be protected for the next two years until they were resourced.

Government was importing 3 000 more tractors and urged ZPCS to use loan facilities provided by banks to buy its requirements from the growing fleet.

“The Government provides inputs but your requirements are more. You need working capital, spares, repairs and infrastructure.

‘‘You must have a relationship with lending institutions like Agriculture Finance Corporation which has been re-established to provide sustainable financing for agriculture,” he said.

“You can access tractors based on your own business plan and you pay a 15 percent deposit with the remainder paid over three years. This also applies with irrigation equipment.

“Farming is a business and agriculture will propel the attainment of vision 2030.”