Matabeleland Universities receive farming equipment.

Lupane State University, Solusi University, Matopo Research Station and Gwanda State University received 4 two tonne tipper trucks, 10 wheel ploughs, 10 water pumps, 12 tonnes of maize seed and two tonnes of sorghum seed from Vice President Nkomo, the Chronicle reports. He handed over the consignment worth thousands of United States dollars to senior officials from at a ceremony held at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair  (ZITF) grounds on Friday.

The governors of the two Matabeleland provinces  Angeline Masuku of Matabeleland South and Thokozile Mathuthu of Matabeleland North attended the handover ceremony.

The four institutions were given a truck each and 20 tonnes of seed while the governors were given five-wheel ploughs and pumps each. The wheel plough, which has an engine and two wheels, can be operated manually by one man once the engine starts running.

However, there were no technicians from Agritex to demonstrate how they work.
VP Nkomo said he sourced the donation from Seed-Co  and Gansu province from the People's Republic of China to assist institutions with a bias on agriculture.

He said the donation was meant to improve service operations at the institutions and enhance development in the entire region.

"These institutions have a big role to play in the development of the region. We have held discussions on the need to support them in order to improve their operations. I was in China recently and they were impressed by the work we are doing and they gave us this assistance," said VP Nkomo.

He said China has sent five-wheel ploughs to be given to each of the eight provinces, excluding Bulawayo and Harare, and announced that Mlezu Agricultural College in Kwekwe and Makoloni

Research Centre in Masvingo have also been given a truck each. VP Nkomo challenged people from the region to work as a team in order to achieve meaningful development.

"We have a challenge as a nation to work together. If we continue arguing we will not achieve anything. History has proved that quarrels and differences are as old as mankind.

"Laziness and idleness create problems but when people are busy working there is no time for quarrelling," said VP Nkomo. We should not fail to respond to the call by our leaders to use the land productively.

President Mugabe has given us the inputs and let us all feel challenged to produce. We should commit ourselves to contribute meaningfully to the turnaround of the

country's economy. We should not die of hunger. Thirty years after independence, people should be able to stand on their own."

Speaking at the same occasion Governor Masuku applauded VP Nkomo for sourcing the donation and paid tribute to Seed-Co and China for extending help to the region.

She challenged people from the region to work hard in order to develop themselves instead of complaining without making an effort.

"We appreciate what VP Nkomo has done for the region. However,it is a mistake for people to sit back and relax without doing anything to help themselves. "Matabeleland is known as a drought region. We are tired of this image and given such Government support I believe food security will improve," said Governor Masuku.

Seed-Co general manager Mr Dennis Zaranyika called for stakeholder involvement towards boosting national food security.

"This seed donation is enough to plant 400 hectares of maize and 400 hectares of sorghum, which can produce an average yield of three tonnes per hectare and give 2 400 tonnes of grain," said Mr Zaranyika.

"We have adequate stocks of seed to meet our national requirements, but the challenge is that we must turn this seed into grain to achieve the objective of national food security." He said his organisation was committed to partner with the Government in its efforts to improve food production and called on other organisations to do the same.