THE Zimbabwe Agricultural Society (ZAS) has begun preparations for this year’s edition of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show, with the week-long event slated to start on August 25, NewsDay Business can report.
The 115th edition of the show has attracted increased interest if the number of those registering is anything to go by, ZAS said.
This year’s edition will run under the theme, Building Bridges.
According to ZAS, the show attracted over 250 000 visitors and featured about 560 exhibitors last year.
The show is the premier agricultural event in the country, meant to facilitate and promote the development of the sector, Zimbabwe’s main economic contributor.
In an interview, ZAS chief executive officer Rufaro Gunundu confirmed that the preparations were underway and that registration had been opened for the participants.
“We have started registration and we are hopeful that by the time of the event, we will have a great number of participants. Normal dates for the event are towards the end of August, around 25 to 30 August,” he said.
“We are bringing the community, industry and the farmers together. Our preparations are at an advanced stage.”
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He said ZAS was currently working on boosting its business hub and making sure all the infrastructure is ready to host the annual show.
“There are no problems and I feel we are in a good situation,” Gunundu said.
He said the main thrust of the show was to attract new players.
“That has always been our wish to have new players coming in and we will try all means this year to have new players coming in. At this juncture, it’s a bit too soon or too early to say how many or who are coming,” Gunundu said.
“But our thrust is targeted towards new players and retaining our usual supporters.”
He said that every year, ZAS conducts a thorough evaluation post-event to identify areas for improvement.
“At the end of each show, we do a post-mortem looking at things to change, things to improve on and those to keep,” Gunundu said.
“Right now, I may not again disclose what we have done, but it’s something that we have got up our sleeves. We will try to make it a bigger and better show, to make it the same thing that our stakeholders are always looking at.”
Local banks are sponsoring the show, he said.
