One of Zimbabwe’s agricultural equipment manufacturer Prochoice Logistics has developed a unique maize sheller with a capacity of shelling up to six tonnes per hour. The sheller is meant for large scale farmers within the country.
The agriculture sector contributes about 60 percent of raw materials used in the manufacturing sector, and a good cropping season usually leads to more factories operating and more jobs being created which is in line with the Buy Zimbabwe mantra of creating jobs, wealth and pride for the nation.
Speaking to Great Dyke News 24, Prochoice Corporate Services Director Tafadzwa Chisveto urged farmers to acquire the product adding that it will be a valuable asset that they can use for years .
“We do have farming implements you need which we call Prochoice Agric Tech . We manufacture add ons to tractors and we are talking of rippers , maize shellers and many more .
“Our maize sheller has got a unique capability of shelling up to six tonnes per hour and whenever we are selling this product we always tell our farmers that it’s one of the greatest assets which they can use to shell maize from the entire farm no matter how big it is.
“So it’s an asset that communities can buy, consolidate as a community. We also have three tonne and five tonne rippers for maize preparation in order for farmers to yield the best out of their lands and assist them with land preparation.
“The maize shellers are powered by a minimum of a 20 horse power tractor meaning that it is tractor driven so it runs on the power of the tractor using diesel,” she said.
According to Chisveto, they are working towards developing other shellers that will also benefit small scale farmers in their day to day operations.
“We are thanking God for the massive bumper harvest that the country has experienced this year. We managed to push through the market more than one hundred maize shellers for large scale farmers and this has given us some positivity in terms of the uptake of the product.
“However this has also taken us back to our thinking shell in terms of how do we then assist the smaller scale farmers whereby we are also developing smaller scale maize shellers that will be relevant to the day to day operations of the subsistence farmers. These ones will be more economic when it comes to small scale farmers.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently revealed that Zimbabwe is set for a record maize harvest since the Land Reform Programme, with 2,8 million tonnes expected to be delivered to the Grain Marketing Board, in a development that is expected to drive economic growth.
The country received above normal rains this season which has spurred growth prospects for the economy.
The improvement in hectarage under cropping this season has been attributed to early inputs distribution, especially under the Pfumvudza and Presidential Inputs programmes, training of farmers, empowerment and capacitation of extension workers and robust monitoring and evaluation as dictated by the Agricultural Recovery Plan.
Apart from agricultural equipment Prochoice also manufactures hospital equipment, specialized vehicles and ambulance conversions. They also do farming and irrigation equipment servicing among other things.
