35 000 villages to get tractors

Theseus Mauruki Shambare

GOVERNMENT is targeting to extend agricultural mechanisation to all 35 000 villages across the country under President Mnangagwa’s rural development agenda, equipping village business units, schools, and youth enterprises with 25-horsepower tractors and a range of attachments.

The initiative aims to extend mechanisation beyond large-scale commercial and A2 farmers — who have traditionally anchored State programmes – directly to communal areas that have historically relied on manual labour.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka announced that the programme will be rolled out through a bank-mediated financing model, with successful village business units (VBUs) prioritised for machinery acquisition.

He was speaking during a preparatory visit to the Institute of Agricultural Engineering in Hatcliffe, Harare, yesterday ahead of the upcoming official launch of the smallholder mechanisation programme by President Mnangagwa.

“About 62 percent of our population, 9,2 million people, reside in rural areas and they too have been yearning for mechanisation of Pfumvudza/Intwasa and for more mechanised transport, for their manual and much more. So, Government has responded by putting in place a similarly styled input facility for tractors and attachments,” Dr Masuka said.

The smaller 25-horsepower tractors are specifically earmarked for the nation’s 35 000 villages, schools, and youth business units.

The programme builds directly on the Presidential Rural Development Programme, which has already drilled 6 071 boreholes and established 2 058 village business units. Because the bulk of these business units are now fully operational and commercialised, they are well-positioned to expand through mechanisation.

“Now, we want to link successful business units to be able to get this tractor and a range of attachments of their choice through a bank-mediated loan. And then they can pay over a five to seven-year period,” he explained.

The financing arrangement will enable qualifying enterprises to acquire machinery without paying the full cost upfront. Specific interest rates, deposit requirements, and equipment prices are yet to be announced.

Dr Masuka emphasised that the initiative will transform rural communities from passive beneficiaries of state assistance into active economic producers.

“For once and under the Second Republic, villagers, my mother, my father have become investment cases rather than just mere recipients of Government social interventions,” he said.

“This creates a business model at a village level so that villagers become economic participants and not mere economic spectators.”

While Zimbabwe’s mechanisation drive previously focused on larger-scale farmers using high-capacity tractors and combine harvesters, this new phase widens access to appropriate machinery for smallholders, specifically targeting land preparation, conservation agriculture, and rural transportation.

The upcoming launch will provide further details on the rollout, including equipment availability, final financing structures, and selection criteria for beneficiary business units.

Source: 35 000 villages to get tractors – herald

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