African governments have been urged to invest more in local farming communities in order to improve the agriculture sector.

The call was made by the Director of Business Development, Markets, and Trade in the Ministry of Land, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development of Zimbabwe, Richard Kaitano.

Kaitano is of the view that such efforts will contribute much to the gross domestic product of countries and improve the living standards of people. Given the significance of the agricultural sectors in Africa, Kaitano says, the situation requires member states to come up with programs that support local farmers to ramp up their daily productions.

"Agriculture is life, like in Zimbabwe, where 70% of our people depend on agriculture, so that's life; our African livelihoods depend on agriculture even in the industry, where agriculture contributes more than 60% of the raw materials for the industry. Agriculture is everywhere you go in life, so we need to put our efforts and energy towards improving agriculture."

Kaitanoi also called on the private sector to assist in sourcing new business modules to develop the agricultural industry.

"We have several programs under the government that are supported through presidential interventions that give inputs for crop farming, livestock farming, looking at goats, sheep, poultry, and interventions in mechanization, climate, soil, and conservation, so our role as government is to help with facilitating coordination of activities and also encourage private sector participation in whatever programs."