By Delicious Mathuthu
Farmers and miners have been urged to embrace digital technologies to improve administration issues, enhance their productivity and also to close the collaboration gap between tertiary institutions and industries.Midlands State University (MSU) Mining Engineering Department Assistant Lecturer, Eng. Rejoice Moyo bemoaned the backward methods still being used in farming and mining activities, saying digital technologies can be a game changer.
“The main issue of concern is the backward stance that we have in terms of our operations.”If we manage to have Ministry of Lands having a database that is on the internet or on the cloud or wherever you are storing your database.”Have the Ministry of Mines having the same it is easy to see that this area is available and this land is not available.”That reduces the conflicts that can arise between farmers and miners.”For us to have a better economy by 2030 as our vision, we are talking of inter-net of things,” she said.
She was speaking during one of the Midlands Miners Forum (MMF) conferences in Gweru, Zimbabwe, which brought together farmers, miners and investment institutions.Eng. Moyo said the inter-network of things is whereby the country has softwares, censors on equipment and technology that can connect things and ensure smooth flow of information.”When we talk of inter-net of things we are talking of censors, softwares, technology that can connect and exchange information over the internet,” she said.
She said the data collected by these machineries during operations should then be collected and utilised.She said it is partly one of the main duties of institutions like MSU to assist analyse the data collected and make people understand how to do data analytics. “Data analytics is a process of collecting data that is provided by these equipments, removing noise or irrelevant information and making plans or decisions basing on that which is on the ground.”We don’t have to do speculations but we have to let the data speak for itself,” Eng. Moyo said.
Currently, MSU under the education 5.0 focuses on teaching, community engagement, research, innovation and industrialisation.Eng. Moyo said, thus, there is need for working relationships and collaborations between tertiary education institutions and industries on the ground.She said a gap exists that needs to be bridged for tertiary education to be relevant in both mining and farming industries.Giving an example of students that go for work related learning, Eng. Moyo said: “It is almost useless to have students come out of the Universities, colleges and schools with information that feels irrelevant.
She said there is a gap that exists between those teaching at institutions and what is happening on the ground.”The reason why it seems like what is being learnt is useless is because I think it’s actually useless.”Why am I saying that? When you are at school you are taught to pass.”The mentality that students have is not married to the industry,” Eng. Moyo said.The conference brought together different stakeholders, apart from miners, farmers and investment institutions, which included government departments, parastatals, amongst others.
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