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(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) ZOU, union to train tobacco farmers

ZOU, union to train tobacco farmers
Tuesday, 12 July 2011 00:00
Herald Reporter

THE Zimbabwe Open University and Zimbabwe Progressive Tobacco Farmers Union have signed an agreement that will see the organisations jointly educating resettled farmers on tobacco growing. Speaking at the signing ceremony recently, ZOU Vice Chancellor Dr Primrose Kurasha, said the land reform programme ushered in a new breed of farmers from diverse backgrounds that needed training.

"The diversity of backgrounds of the land reform beneficiaries, most of whom had been operating as subsistence farmers presented a big challenge to productivity and Government tried to complement the programme with supply of inputs."

Dr Kurasha said a significant percentage of the land reform beneficiaries were challenged in the use of English as a medium of communication.

"It is upon realising that the missing link, which affects productivity, is relevant education and training, that ZOU through its centre for professional development, is closing the gap by teaching farmers agriculture in local languages," she said.

Dr Kurasha said it was ZOU's belief that education using indigenous languages would unlock potential for development among new farmers.

She said the training would give farmers skills for maximum benefit to the country's economy.

"It was long established that language is a vehicle of thought and intelligence upon which ideas are contextualised, thoughts organised and memory systematised hence our insistence that all tobacco farmers can be trained to improve production," she said.

ZPTFU chief executive officer, Mr David Muzvidzwa, described the agreement as historical.

"This signing is historical as it has never happened anywhere that a university can adapt training for people who cannot read and write as well as those who can," he said.

Labels: AGRICULTURE, EDUCATION, TOBACCO, ZPTF

posted by MrK @ 7:10 PM