China Donates Agricultural Equipment to ZimbabweChinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Hou Qingru, on behalf of the Chinese government, Monday donated a batch of agricultural machinery worth 2 million yuan (241,000 US dollars) to Zimbabwe to support the country's land reform program.The equipment includes tractors, maize sowing machines, grain drilling machines, bulldozers and diving water pumps. At the hand-over ceremony held at the Institute of Agricultural Engineering in Hatcliffe near Harare, Ambassador Hou said "China and Zimbabwe enjoy very profound and traditional relations. China always regards Zimbabwe as her reliable friend, and the Chinese government always helped the Zimbabwean government and its people by providing aid within her own capability." "Sino-Zimbabwean trade and economic cooperation is developing rapidly and the scopes of the cooperation are expanding constantly. All these have laid a very solid foundation for the further development of bilateral relations," he said. On his side, Zimbabwean Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Joseph Made said the machinery and equipment will be given to the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority, District Development Fund and the Zimbabwe Farmers Union to service farmers in resettlement areas. "The Zimbabwean government is convinced that under the land reform and redistribution program, success highly depends on mechanization, tillage and technical support services," he said. He said about 80,000 people will be resettled before June 30 this year and many more before the end of the year. |
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