'Land audit vital,' says Grace Mugabe

The First Lady, Grace Mugabe says it is prudent that government continues and concludes the land audit so that genuine farmers who failed to get land can be allocated land in view of the fact that there are a lot of farmers who are not utilising their farms.

Dr Mugabe said this after touring stands at the Harare Agricultural Show.

The First Lady first toured the Larche Zimbabwe stand and from there she visited Camfed and the Ministry of Small to Medium Enterprises before visiting AfricaAid, an organisation that work with children living with HIV/ AIDS.

Thereafter Grace Mugabe visited sugar manufacturing company Hullet where she had a chance to see the production process from planting to sugar production.

Later, she visited the agriculture produce farmers' hall with an array of farm produce and later visited the home industry hall.

The visit at Nash Paints company generated a lot of interest as she had an opportunity to meet the world's record tallest man who is 2.4m tall, putting on size 16 shoes.

Speaking after the tour, Grace Mugabe said a lot of people benefited from the land reform programme and not all of them are utilising the land.

Grace Mugabe said she would like women groups in farming especially those who grow small grains to access equipment so they can increase hectrage and yield.

In terms of manufacturing and value addition, Grace Mugabe said women are doing a great job, adding that she will work hard to ensure women are empowered to add value to their products.

The First Lady said the country needs to adopt the use of solar power in agriculture to mitigate power cuts.

Commenting on the work being done at Alpha and Omega Dairy, Dr Mugabe said the First Family has done farm agriculture and value addition so that it can lead by example.