THE government says it will step up its engagement with the private sector and development partners to improve service delivery by agriculture extension workers across the country.
Agricultural extension work has been facing a number of challenges including inadequate technical and logistical capacity and access to information and communication technologies.
“I encourage staff within my ministry to take this support seriously. Let’s continue to engage with our partners in the private sector for continued improvement of extension service delivery,” Agriculture permanent secretary, John Basera, told a virtual meeting involving the government and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The meeting marked the launch of a technical cooperation programme between FAO and Zimbabwe.
“The extension capacitation drive entails increasing the mobility of extension staff through provision of motorcycles and fuel, increased interventions towards appropriate and relevant training opportunities as well as equipping extension officers with digital technologies for effective technical backstopping of farmers to adopt good agricultural practices,” Basera added.
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