Maravi

(HERALD) Seed Co awards top farmer with tractor, cash

Seed Co awards top farmer with tractor, cash
Friday, 26 August 2011 02:00
Herald Reporter

A CHIWESHE farmer Eckinos Gombera was crowned Seed Co farmer of the year in a hotly contested national crop farming competition for small holder communal and resettlement farmers.

Gombera scooped the first prize and won himself a tractor and US$1000 in a stiff competition pitting eight farmers from different provinces in the country.
The second prize and third winner took home grinding mills each and US$750 and US$650 respectively. The other five farmers walked away US$500 rich as well as generators each while extension officers were given motor bikes and cash prizes each.

As a way of encouraging higher productivity, Seed Co reintroduced the 10 Tonne Club for maize and 4 Tonne Club for soyabeans.

Seed Co managing director Mr Denis Zaranyika said the company had been running the competitions since 1982 to encourage better farming practices.

"We are satisfied with the progress we have made in this respect over the years and we see this competition continuing to play a significant role as the country strives to reclaim its breadbasket status for our region.

"We have enough stocks of seed for the coming summer cropping season. Realising that it is not just good enough to have stocks, we have embarked on a programme to ensure that the seeds are available to farmers on time," he said.

As such, Seed Co launched a Bumper Harvest Murigadzose/Umanqobazonke promotion which ensures that farmers buy inputs at their nearest stockist.

Secretary for Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Mr Ngoni Masoka said Governemnt was committed to ensuring that farmers are given support to build food reserves.

"Agriculture remains the backbone of our economy as it creates strong linkages with many upstream and downstream industries. The performance of our agriculture sector has a major effect on other key sectors of our economy. "

Labels: MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE MECHANISATION AND IRRIGATION (ZIMBABWE), SEEDCO

posted by MrK @ 5:50 AM