Dean’s Welcome Note

Welcome to Gary Magadzire School of Agriculture. The School is located at Great Zimbabwe University’s main campus. The school derives its inspiration from Gary Magadzire who was the 1^st President of the Zimbabwe farmers’ Union and an Agriculturalist of repute. Agriculture has always been an integral component of the Zimbabwean culture and heritage as evidenced by the sophisticated economic system which sustained the communities that resided at and around the Great Zimbabwe Monuments.  The School consists of two departments: Department of Livestock, Wildlife and Fisheries, and Department of Soil and Plant Sciences hosting two programmes each.  The Department of Soil and Plant sciences hosts the BSc Honours in Crop Science and BSc Honours in Soil Science programmes. The Department of Livestock, Wildlife and Fisheries hosts the BSc Honours in Animal Science and BSc Honours in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation programmes. Two more departments will be established to host the BSc Honours in Agricultural Economics and BSc Honours in Irrigation and Water Engineering. These Degrees are biased towards innovation and entrepreneurship, hence the Degree programmes will be supported by commercially running enterprises (livestock, horticulture, field crops and wildlife and fisheries) with students having an active role in order to acquire entrepreneurial and practical skills. This is in line with our Vision, which is to be a World class School in Teaching, Research, Community engagement, Innovation and Industrialisation. The School strives to produce a sound graduate who is grounded in agricultural, entrepreneurial and innovative skills through quality teaching, training, research and innovation to address real life societal problems. The School also aims to identify and develop ground breaking research that carries the greatest potential for radical innovation and transformation leading to industrialisation. The School also extends its educational facilities to the Chiredzi farmers who receive lectures about how to leverage their resources in order to increase their sugarcane yields and improve the quality of the same. We also offer postgraduate degrees: MPhil and DPhil in Agriculture.

The establishment of a Centre of Excellence in Dryland Agriculture (CEDA) in Chivi District of Zimbabwe by Great Zimbabwe University together with its development partners is one of the School’s flagship programmes intended to operationalize Education 5.0. This initiative will go a long way in reducing the short- and long-term effects of climate change, building capacities of local communities to adapt and increasing productivity in arid and semi-arid regions. The Centre’s main objective is to strengthen research on dry land farming in small grains, tropical fruit plantation crops, livestock and wildlife production. Amongst its key obligations, the Centre will focus on development of crop breeds that are resistant/tolerant to harsh climatic conditions, new indigenous beef cattle, small stock (goats, pigs, rabbits & poultry) and efficient post-harvest processing of small grains and fruits. In addition, the Research Centre will engage in intensive propagation of livestock, forage, legumes and grasses that are suitable for semi-arid areas. Research into natural resources management, wetland reclamation and addressing land degradation will also be pursued. The Centre will also conduct training of farmers and extension officers on dryland farming practices, basic agronomy of crops, animal husbandry and bee keeping.