THE Agriculture ministry is pushing to increase awareness and access of agritech strategies to small scale farmers to help improve their efficiency and output.
Agritech is the use of technology and technological innovation to small scale farmers with smart farming solutions in information, value chain addition, logistics and ready markets.
The use of drones, super computers and other sophisticated machinery is at the centre of the agritech revolution.
Speaking at a virtual event organised at the weekend by First Capital Bank under the theme: Agritech in Zimbabwe: Paving the Way for a New Era in Farming, the ministry’s director of information communication technology, Lovemore Kaseke, said farmers can access scientific-based information from their offices.
“Government has invested in a high-performance computer centre so that data is collected at a huge scale and passed through a data analytics engine that will produce critical data that farmers can access,” he said.
“In every region across the country, we will showcase agriculture technologies to generate interest among farmers. Our local engineers and development partners will assist farmers who are showing keen interest in agritech and want to buy equipment.”
Although agritech equipment and software is still very expensive, Kaseke said farmers should not lose heart as there were many rental options.
“Farmers do not need to buy all technological equipment; all they need to do is to lease from a drone company for a while. This will increase accessibility to technology equipment,” he said.
Prominent farmer and entrepreneur, Divine Simbi-Ndhlukula, pictured,said the government should increase awareness of the importance of agritech and engage private companies, who are eager to fund communal farmers.
“The cost of accessing technologies may prohibit them but that is an opportunity for development partners as they are willing to work with small holder farmers,” said the Securico security founder.
“There is a need for farmers to understand the benefits they can derive on embarking on technologies at a household level. The ministry should ensure that they disseminate information on the blueprint strategy recently launched in rural areas.”
Speaking at the same event, First Capital Bank Zimbabwe commercial director Mutemwa Ushewokunze said agritech also makes it easy for farmers to access loans.
“For us to grow the agriculture sector, we have to think of more creative and secure ways to access funding,” Ushewokunze said
“Technology allows us to bridge that gap. For example, drones will enable us to monitor our clients’ production.
“It is an enabling factor instead of the traditional way of offering your house as collateral security; the banker will take your cattle as security on the basis that they are able to track that you are doing the right thing with those cattle to increase production.
“Giving confidence that by the end of the agreement bankers will get their money back.”
by
Melisa Chatikobo
STAFF WRITER