Land for youths remains of paramount importance: Muchenje

OUTGOING National Young Champion farmer Mr John Muchenje has reiterated that young people have to be allocated land so that they play a role in growing the country’s agriculture sector.

Mr Muchenje was the 2019 National Young Champion farmer, an accolade given to youthful farmers who are into productive agro enterprises. Yearly the nation celebrates thriving farmers who contribute to the success of the agricultural sector through an awards ceremony graced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

This year’s ceremony was held on Friday in Harare where VicePresident Constantino Chiwenga presented prizes to the winners. Mr Pardon Mhuri was crowned 2020 National Young Champion Farmer.

The farmer is into commercial tobacco seedling production, horticultural farming, beans, wheat and maize production.

In a telephone interview, Mr Muchenje praised efforts by Government in creating a buzz for the success of the 2020/2021 farming season. This has been done through implementation of the Intwasa/ Pfumvudza concept where more than 3 million farmers have been trained on the programme. The programme is designed to make smallholder farming commercially viable.

It is primarily aimed at increasing food output per unit area for household security through the adoption of conservation agriculture and adoption of good agronomic practices such as mulching, population density management, crop rotations, fertilisation regime management, and pest and weed management.

“As the outgoing National Young Champion farmer for the period 2018-2019, I applaud the assistance and guidance we have been receiving from the Government through the Ministry of Land, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement and Ministry of Youth, Sports and Recreation towards empowering youth in agriculture. The issue of land remains a hot topic and as the National Chairperson for the Youth in Agriculture, with my team, we will continue advocating for prioritisation of the youth as land redistribution will be carried out,” said Mr Muchenje.

He said youths should unite for a good cause that will see Zimbabwe regain its food basket role in Sadc.

“As the adage goes that once a champion always a champion, I call upon youths to stand up and work closely together.”