Mr Tagwirei, who is the founder and chief executive of
Sakunda Holdings, was speaking at the 26th graduation ceremony at Solusi
University.
He said he came up with the proposal to do contract farming
in 2015.
“I was going to Equatorial Guinea and the man who I was
with on the plane told me about the drought that was coming, El Nino,” said Mr
Tagwirei.
“Thereafter I started thinking and planning for it and a
week after I came back, I started planning a strategy.
“I called my friends and we sat up until 4am, discussing
about the drought that was coming. I did a project proposal for contract
farming, which you now call Command Agriculture. When we started, no one
thought it was going to succeed and no one talked about it.”
Mr Tagwirei said after the success of the programmes, the
United States Agricultural Department commended the country for Command Agriculture.
He said it was surprising that the same US government had
put him under sanctions.
“However, when the US government saw that I was supporting
the Government of the day in Zimbabwe, they then said, he stole US$3 billion.
And I was placed on sanctions,” said Mr Tagwirei.
Mr Tagwirei, who is an elder in the Seventh Day Adventist
church which runs Solusi University, said Government had agricultural
programmes in rural areas that graduates could take advantage of.
He said the programmes were not political.
“All of us have a rural home, and in those rural homes,
Government is drilling boreholes and establishing irrigation schemes,” he said.
“If you decide that you want to be an entrepreneur, go to
your rural home, the Government has a programme for you.
“Do not think politics, think of your rural home. I’m not
telling you who to vote for, I’m telling you to think of your rural home.”
Mr Tagwirei urged graduates to work together and start
farming projects.
“Do you know that to succeed you don’t have to have this
big vision,” he said.
“You start small. We tend to want the big things. In your
rural home, you have one hectare and sell that car of yours and put a borehole.
“You’re educated, you know how to put fertiliser and seed
in the ground; you know how much water is needed. So, you should begin to
practice what you have been taught in your rural home.”
Mr Tagwirei said there was no need to have huge tracts of
land for one to be a successful farmer.
“If you are said to be a big farmer in Zimbabwe you must
have 100 hectares,” he said.
“In Israel, it’s six hectares, you are called wealthy when
you have six hectares. In Zimbabwe, we want 100, 200 or 300 hectares, but what
Israel does, is that they come together as a community, and they look for a
market for their combined hectares.”
Mr Tagwirei told the graduates that they would face
challenges, but should not be stopped.
“Class of 22, you are going to meet challenges, when you
have a vision do not stop, work and look for it,” he said.
“And there’s going to be an American government kind of
situation that is going to come to you and tell you that you can’t succeed. And
when they see you succeed, they are going to put sanctions on your life.”
Ms Masline Tsamwayi from Buhera, who graduated with a
Diploma in Early childhood Education, said she was working on establishing a
school in her home area.
“I am from in Murambinda, there is no ECD school nearby and
some children walk long distances to the nearest one,” she said. “I want to
establish such as a school for our area so that the children benefit.”
Among the graduates was National Gallery of Zimbabwe in
Bulawayo director Ms Silenkosi Moyo who graduated with a Masters in Business
Administration.
She said collaboration was key to success in any
organisation.
“I feel very challenged to act on collaboration. In the
field that I am, it’s something that we talk about often and it was emphasised
today that we need to work together as a team,” said Ms Moyo.
Mr Bongiswa Dlamini from the Kingdom of Eswatini who
graduated with a BSc in Environmental Health, said he chose Zimbabwe because of
the quality of education in the country.
“I came to Zimbabwe because it was a proper country for me
to study, especially science as there is a focus on lab work and practicals. My
experience here overall has been out of this world,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to improving the health sector in my
country.” Herald
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