MATABELELAND South Agricultural Show Society has revealed that plans are underway to increase the number of exhibition days from three to four following complaints from exhibitors.
Show society secretary Thabani Mkhwananzi told Southern Eye over the weekend that organisers had realised that the business community felt shortchanged by the limited number of days for the show, which ended on Saturday, having started last week on Thursday.
“We are being guided by the National Association of Agricultural Show Society of Zimbabwe which is trying to standardise all the shows in the country. Other shows in other provinces are going for four days and we have to follow suit by following the standards,” he said.
Mkhwananzi said in future, the first day of the show would be dedicated to the business community then the rest to the public.
Matabeleland South province Agritex agronomist Innocent Nyathi encouraged farmers to scale down on maize production and plant small grains.
“Our rain pattern is low in this region, we are no longer giving farmers maize but encouraging them to plant small grains,” he said.
Gwanda United Residents Association chairperson Colet Moyo said the show was generating a lot of excitement in the community, with more youths coming to learn farming methods from well-established farmers.
“We are a region that is endowed with a lot of animals, exhibitors are providing farming lessons for free and I am impressed by the youth who are also coming to showcase their products. We need to market this show as residents to create more investments,” Moyo said.