SIRDC returned to the premier trade promotion event, the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) 2005, in style after having acquired a standalone pavilion that complements the Centre's efforts in its commercialization thrust. The stand also befits SIRDC's status as the Centre of Excellence. The stand was acquired after years of participating at the ZITF first under the guise of the Ministry of Higher Education and later under the wing of the then Department of Science and Technology Development. SIRDC would like to take this opportunity and thank the two government ministries for affording it the chance to showcase its products and technologies under their umbrella.

The Fair was held from 26 to 30 April 2005 with the first two days set aside for business people. The Mozambican President, His Excellency Armando Guebuza, officially opened the Fair calling for greater economic cooperation between Zimbabwe and Mozambique . He invited the Zimbabwean business community to tap into the Mozambican market and resources. He further asked the Zimbabwean business people to bring to Mozambique , their skills and proven enterprising drive.

The new SIRDC stand is a big pavilion with plenty of both indoor and out door display space that can accommodate the various research products and technologies churned out from the Centre's 10 research institutes.

The stand, set up by a professional designer for this exhibition, had an array of product lines that included:

• The uniquely designed gravity grinding mill
• Mushroom spawn for both the oyster and button type
• Dried oyster mushroom
• Castings of some irrigation pump components
• The popular and aesthetically appealing microconcrete roofing tiles
• Sirdamectin, a pour-on animal antibiotic which controls both external and internal parasites like ticks and worms
• HPLC column packing for chemical, biomedical, tertiary education, food processing and pharmaceutical industries
• A science laboratory equipment suite, including ammeters, voltmeters, power supplies and demonstration boards that illustrate some concepts perceived to be difficult, especially in the teaching of physics/electronics
• Microcontroller programmer kit
• Electronic door lock
• Computer models demonstrating applications of remote sensing and geographical information systems
• Solar water pumping for applications in irrigation and household water reticulation

The SIRDC Chief Executive Officer, Dr Robson Mafoti, met several high profile visitors to the SIRDC stand and held business discussions with them. The SIRDC Board Chairman, Dr Gibson Mandishona, also spent some time at the stand.

The just ended 46 th edition of the ZITF is expected to have generated a lot of business deals for SIRDC judging from the amount of serious business enquiries received at the stand.

The ZITF officials say that this year's edition of the Fair attracted 604 exhibitors of which 42 were foreign. For forward planning, ZITF 2006 is slated for 25 to 29 April.