By Wallace Mawire
Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector is intensifying the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to enhance productivity and promote food security.
With support from the Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement took delivery of 1000 laptops as part of an initiatives to enhance productivity through the use of smart agriculture equipment.
The equipment was handed to Vangelis Haritatos, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement by Dr Jenfan Muswere, Minister of ICT, Postal and Courier Services in Harare at a handover event convened by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) on 2 June,2023.
The handover event is the second phase of the smart agriculture digitalization programme , according to Dr Muswere.
The equipment being provided to the agriculture ministry has been procured by the POTRAZ.POTRAZ has a mandate to regulate the postal and telecommunications sector in Zimbabwe.
According to Minister Muswere, the recent handover event marked the launch of phase one of the programme focusing on empowering agricultural extension officers throughout the country with digital skills.
“We are aiming to empower agricultural extension officers, imparting them with digital skills in-order to achieve a digital economy and transform the landscape,”Dr Muswere said.
He also added that the vision of the initiative was to achieve a digitally empowered society by 2030.
According to him, other forms of support which have been rendered to the agriculture ministry include supporting the Agricultural Information Management System (AIMS) and the deployment of the Smart-Zimbabwe 2030 Masterplan.The Smart Zimbabwe 2030 Master Plan calls for a new paradigm shift where government works to remove fragmentation, duplication and streamline the management and coordination of ICT through a new and well-structured institutional arrangement.
The AIMS in Zimbabwe provides policymakers, planners and economic players access to reliable and timely information that is necessary for policy development, emergency preparedness, planning and supports decision making for agricultural productivity.
AIMS also provides timely livestock and land information management systems and links the country’s district, provincial and national agricultural offices to enhance their day to day operations.
“We are tirelessly working to facilitate the e-skilling and training of agricultural extension officers and this will be facilitated by the ICT ministry.As a nation we hope to move from agricultural production to productivity,”Dr Muswere said.
POTRAZ Director-General, Dr Machengete said that his authority was aiming to break down the silo mentality currently existent in the government sector, so that the departments work as one entity although with different mandates.
“We hope that ICT will support agriculture, and agriculture will support ICT.As a country we are in need of food,” he said.
Dr Machengete said that ICTs cut across all sectors and should be used to enhance development,improve food security and to achieve the country’s vision 2030 of a middle income economy for all.
Deputy Lands Minister Haritatos thanked the sister ICT ministry saying that they had been afforded a boost in their agricultural transformation and development agenda.
“It is an honour to receive the ICT gadgets on behalf of my ministry and l promise you this gesture will go a long way in revolutionizing and enabling adoption of other smart agriculture technologies to ease the burden of doing agriculture business,”Haritatos said.
