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Fungi Kwaramba in KWEKWE

“I HAVE just toured the Garden of Eden,” exclaimed Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi after touring President Mnangagwa’s Pricabe Farm on the outskirts of Kwekwe that has rolling lush green fields of wheat and barley.

Equipped with state-of-the-art irrigation systems, the farm, located in the heart of Zimbabwe, has become a model of agricultural excellence and sustainability, not only in Zimbabwe, but on the continent, as it often leaves world leaders in awe and mesmerised.

Pricabe Farm’s impressive yields and innovative farming techniques have made it a benchmark for farmers and policymakers across Africa, as President Mnangagwa leads from the front, playing his part in ensuring Zimbabwe is food-secure. At the farm, which also boasts of livestock, President Mnangagwa’s vision for a food-secure future is taking shape, impacting the region in a major way. “I am floored, I am flabbergasted. I could never have imagined that what I hear and read about, I would actually see it.

“But this is it. It’s real food,” said President Masisi. 

Asked by journalists how he felt standing in an undulating field of wheat, he said: “I am touching the Garden of Eden.”

President Masisi was among Heads of State and Government who attended the 44th SADC Summit in Mount Hampden, where President Mnangagwa assumed the Chairmanship of the regional body on Saturday.

The two leaders share a special bond and often share notes. 

This time, President Masisi was impressed by the farming prowess of his counterpart, telling reporters that the two leaders “are fond of surprising each other”. 

“Now I have a problem. I don’t know what next I will surprise the President with when he visits Botswana.”

Although Zimbabwe was not spared by the devastating effects of the El Niño-induced drought, the winter wheat crop is the silver lining, providing respite in terms of food security. 

“He (President Mnangagwa) did tell me the granaries are overflowing. And I believe it. What I am proud of is that here is a President who feeds people.

“He doesn’t just feed Zimbabweans, he feeds Africa. So what he speaks about is what he does. And I am just absolutely in awe, literally. 

“So I have a lot to say when I get home. There’s a lot to say. I testify like you can’t believe. 

“And if they doubt it, they will come here,” said President Masisi.

While the country’s Land Reform Programme that redressed land imbalances is vilified in the Western world, it has created a new crop of farmers whose output dwarfs that of the white former farmers.

The increased productivity and production, championed by President Mnangagwa, is something that all SADC nations must embrace, the regional body’s Executive Secretary, Mr Elias Magosi, who also toured the thriving farm, said.

“Other Member States in our region must also see this and try to do it. This project can indeed be replicated. There are some of our countries that have got similar climatic conditions; South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, those that often get water.

“And I think they have to come here and learn what Zimbabwe is doing, including the banking systems and so forth. It’s an entire ecosystem. 

“So, I think if they came here, they could learn because President Mnangagwa is feeding the nation and making the nation feed itself. I think that’s the difference. I was told when I was here three months ago that you have about 300 dams that have been built in the country. Now, if you do irrigation from those dams, you are just expanding this, and you will come close to Zimbabwe being a true food basket of the continent. 

“So I think it’s really the learning that they have to come in for to really swallow your pride and learn to make sure that you can produce for your own citizens,” he said.

President Masisi is today expected to tour Zimbabwe’s high performing industries, which will soon spread wings to Botswana.