The Sunday News
Feature Lungile Tshuma
MANY people have been left jobless, some are failing to put bread on the table and others still walk for about six kilometres to town almost daily, all in the name of getting a job. This is a typical life in Bulawayo, a city which was once the country’s industrial hub. With this in mind, some have already renamed it (Bulawayo) a “dead city,” as people are continually in “tears”, crying for a better life.
In sharp contrast, in the same city, Mr Charles Ndlovu is shedding tears of joy. He admires, marvels, and boasts of his 12 hectares of land in Riverside, which is thriving, as he has already tasted the fruits of being an urban farmer.
“We have been farming on this plot for only eight months,” said one employee who can only be identified as Promise, adding: “I am one of the first employees who started working here and during our early stages, I never thought that we were going to be where we are today.”
He said their first crops were potatoes, tomatoes and lettuce. These crops were grown on eight hectares. They are grown under drip irrigation.
“We first harvested more than 12 000 pockets of potatoes. There were small and large potatoes hence people were free to buy the size they wanted. We were selling them at a market price of $12 for a 15- kilogramme bag and a 10-kilogramme bag was sold for $8. Tomatoes raked in more money and this is the reason why we are growing tomatoes again.
“During the peak period, we were harvesting nearly 120 crates of tomatoes per day. We devoted a large area to tomatoes and as a result we took nearly three weeks harvesting them. Tomatoes are sold at $16 per crate.”
He said they sold their crops at the market because they were too many to be bought by individuals.
Most parts of Riverside are under irrigation. People are mainly growing tomatoes and vegetables on their small plots. Mr Ndlovu’s success story as an urban farmer is a reflection of how urban agriculture is changing many people’s lives in the city and the country too.
For Riverside, the area boasts clay soils, which are rich and have small particles that enable them to hold water. Clay soils also have an advantage of requiring little or no fertiliser hence it reduces the cost of inputs that are needed.
“We don’t apply more fertiliser because the soils are very rich,” explained Mr Mcebisi Moyo — one of the senior employees, adding: “This cuts the cost of inputs. Electricity is very costly because we use it to pump water to fill the tank and for irrigation. Besides that, this farming business is going well. We are now preparing for the summer season and we are definitely going to do much better that we are doing now.”
Due to the high rate of unemployment and the resultant social insecurity, urban agriculture has become ideal in helping people cope with food scarcity.
At the time of the visit to the farm, workers were seen grading tomatoes. When the tomato harvesting is at its peak, Promise says, about 30 people are employed, a development which eases unemployment.
“I was asked to come and work on this farm after spending nearly three years looking for a job to no avail,” said Mr Mthabisi Masuku who hails from Nyamandlovu.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to learn more about farming and we have learnt a lot within these few months we are here. I am single and my wages are enough for me to do many things I want to do,” said the 23-year-old Masuku.
Due to his busy schedule, Mr Ndlovu was said to be out of town buying support poles for tomatoes which are yet to be grown.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, there will be 35 million urban farmers in Africa by 2020. Statistics show that the hectarage under cultivation in Harare increased from 15 000 in 2012 to 19 000 in 2013 with yields increasing from 7,1 tonnes per hectare to 8,3 tonnes per hectare.
In Bulawayo, 17 400 hectares of land is said to be under cultivation.
Urban farming is defined as the growing of plants and the raising of animals for food and other uses within the urban and peri-urban areas and related activities such as the production and delivery of inputs, and the marketing and processing of outputs.
Municipal Development Partnership for Eastern and Southern Africa (MDP) Urban Agriculture an Environmental Planning Co-ordinator, Mr Takawira Mubvami said there were two characteristics of urban agriculture which are on plot and off plot.
He classified Mr Ndlovu’s farming as on plot agriculture which is “practised by property owners inside their plots — all year round with tap water used normally for tomatoes and vegetables which if grown off plot can be stolen.”
Growing of potatoes in sacks which took many cities by storm, he said, also falls under on plot agriculture.
Mr Mubvami said off plot was mainly practised by the poor and the landless on public land — these generally grow maize during the rain season.
Studies have shown that many cities in Africa have developed plans to formalise urban agriculture as it has benefits to both the city and residents. Cape Town introduced its Urban Agriculture policy document in 2007, focusing on the importance of urban agriculture for poverty alleviation and job creation and recognising that security of land tenure is one of the most serious problems urban farmers face.
Besides improving food security, recent research has shown that some crops can protect stream banks and prevent soil erosion, suggesting that guidelines need to be precisely defined.
The keeping of small livestock within the city is another area where earlier legislation — which discouraged the practice — may need revision.
Urban farming is not a new feature and it has proved to be more lucrative in some parts of the continent.
In Kenya, cattle are kept in pens and fed on Napier grass which grows from their small plots. Farmers’ dairy cows produce about 15 litres of milk a day, which they pour, fresh, into bottles and sell for about $0,40.
In other African cities such as Kampala (Uganda) and Yaounde (Cameroon) many urban households raise livestock including poultry, dairy cattle and pigs.
In Yaounde, urban agriculture has proved to be very profitable, a typical case of Mr Ndlovu. During a dry season in Yaounde, farmers using waste water irrigation can sell vegetables at more than double the wet season price and urban agriculture incomes were estimated to be 50 percent above minimum wage.
Studies also show that livestock in Yaounde produce more than 20 000 tonnes of manure per year, two-thirds of which are used as fertiliser by farms. These locally available farm “inputs” reduce the need for purchasing more expensive commercial supplements.
One might believe that urban agriculture is mostly productive only for the rich who can drill boreholes and practise on plot agriculture.
However, as one drives along Plumtree road just after Bellevue the area on both sides of the road has been extensively used for off-plot agriculture by people in nearby areas which is Nketa, Emganwini and Bellevue. Mrs Ruth Ndebele (33) of Nketa, who farms in the above-mentioned area, was in jovial mood as she narrated her successful story of urban farming.
“I had grown four hectares of maize and due to the rainfall we received this season I managed to harvest three tonnes,” said the ecstatic Mrs Ndebele, a mother of four.
She added: “I had to take two tonnes to my rural area in Tsholotsho because I know that they did not harvest as much as I did due to floods.”
Mr Donald Nyedzi (44), who was cultivating the land in preparation for the next season, said the Government should introduce extension officers to impart knowledge to farmers.
“As urban farmers,” he said, “we are calling on the Government to introduce extension officers in the cities. These officers are needed so that they impart knowledge to farmers on proper farming methods and also proper seed maize to be used in the region.”
