…hosts leading tech summit
By Maricho Reporter
Zimbabwe is finalising the development of an Agriculture Information Management System which is expected to provide analytical data to manage and monitor the crop production process with a view to ensuring food security.
The system is being developed under the auspices of the Smart Agriculture blueprint, according to Dr Jenfan Muswere, ICT, Postal and Courier Services Minister.
Dr Muswere was addressing the media on the forthcoming 6th Transform Africa Summit (TAS) which is expected to run from the April 26 to 28 in Victoria Falls.
The Transform Africa Summit is the leading Africa tech and digital event organised by Smart Africa which gathers over 3,000 delegates from more than 100 countries to engage on the digital transformation of the continent across multiple sectors.
Heads of States, who constitute Smart Africa’s Board, Ministers of ICT, international industry leaders and key players in the ICT will attend the 3 day event under the theme: Connect, Transform and Innovate.
This year’s focus will be on regulation and policy, digital infrastructure financing, capacity building and skills development and digital continental trade among other key aspects.
“We joined Smart Africa in 2019 and we were then assigned to focus on agriculture in particular how best we can utilise information communication technology for the purposes of ensuring that Africa has food security and to cut down on our food import bill as a continent,” said Minister Muswere.
So this system gives us capacity to monitor agriculture production processes,” said Minister Muswere.
This is the first time for the Transform Africa Summit to be held outside Rwanda.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa will open the summit while other Heads of State expected to attend include President Paul Kagame of Rwanda who is also the Chairman of the Smart Africa Board, Presidents Macky Sall from Senegal and Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi.
The summit will also be attended by key international organisations leaders such as Doreen Bogdan-Martin Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Wamkele Keabetswe Mene, Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) and Deemah AlYahya, Secretary General of the Digital Cooperation Organisation (DCO).
Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) Director General Dr Gift Machengete said as a member of Smart Africa, Zimbabwe is committed to ensuring that technology can change the lives of citizens across the continent.
