It is my great pleasure and honour to officiate at this very important international workshop on conservation tillage for sustainable agriculture.Mr Chairman, I wish to extend this region’s gratitude to the FAO, FARMESA, GTZ and the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa for their contribution in making this workshop a reality. Their support in terms of funding, organization, and expert knowledge are highly commendable.
Allow
me also Mr. Chairman, to extend, on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe, and indeed on my own
behalf, a special welcome to all those who have come from Latin America, USA, New Zealand
and various regions of Africa. We welcome you all with a truly Zimbabwean spirit, and wish
you a very pleasant stay in Zimbabwe during the next five days or so. It is my sincere
hope and belief that Zimbabwe will be like a second home to you during the entire period
of the workshop.
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Photograph Opening
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a historic meeting that has brought together practitioners from all over the world. The meeting is intended to facilitate the sharing and exchange of information on experiences, initiating partnerships with stakeholders at national and regional levels and to enhance dissemination of conservation tillage practices to the end users, who are the farmers. Specifically the workshop seeks to:
- share regional and world-wide experiences in conservation tillage and extract lessons learnt for possible use on smallholder farms;
- develop ways of improving the exchange of experiences within Africa and between Africa and Latin America; and to
- develop guidelines for environmentally sound tillage practices for the protection of soils.
In view of the enormous environmental problems that are currently faced by many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa which are threatening food security and economic growth in the region, these are noble objectives.
Soil degradation is the most critical problem affecting the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. The loss of plant nutrition and organic matter through soil erosion is a significant factor adversely affecting agricultural growth and rural poverty throughout the region. Without implementing effective restorative measures on controlling further degradation and land currently under cultivation, Sub-Saharan Africa faces the prospect of chronic food insecurity, hunger and even collapse of economies as our economies are fully dependent on agriculture.
Agricultural growth in many countries of the region has been static over the past three decades, averaging below 2% annually which is lower than the rate of population growth. Cereal production, for example has declined from 150 to 130 kgs per capita over the same period. Per capita food production has therefore, been declining. In order to sustain the rapid population growth, it is essential to attain an agricultural growth rate of 4% per annum. Knowing that land is a finite resource, such levels of growth can only be attained through increased productivity in areas presently under cultivation.
The development and promotion of sustainable land management practices should therefore be a prime objective of research and extension institutions. Conservation tillage is one such practice which has proved to be effective in combating soil degradation and mitigating the effects of droughts, which are a continuing threat to our region. It is sad to note that while conservation tillage has become common practice in regions such as Latin America, in Africa it is still restricted mainly to large scale commercial farms.
During the past decade Zimbabwe has been championing and advocating the development of conservation tillage systems suitable for smallholder farmers. However, whilst tremendous progress has been made in developing various technical options, the dissemination and adoption levels have remained relatively low. My Ministry, through the Department of Agritex, is currently in the progress of developing and fine-tuning appropriate dissemination strategies that will facilitate the rapid flow of information to the end users, who are the smallholder farmers.
It is against this background, Mr. Chairman, that I believe that this workshop is timely, and could not have been held at a better time.
Zimbabwe strongly believes in the need for cooperation, collaboration and exchange of knowledge and experiences as a way forward to foster development in developing countries. The task ahead for this workshop is, therefore, of great significance, not only in terms of the efforts required to achieve the objectives as set out by yourselves, but also in terms of the envisaged beneficial impact on the economies of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this respect, I am assured of your determination and commitment to succeed.
It is my sincere hope therefore, that this workshop will produce the desired outputs which match the commitment and effort, and that implementable plans will be drawn up at the end of the workshop.
I now declare your workshop officially open
Thank You
CDE Kumbirai Kangai, M. P