The Sunday News
Roberta Katunga Senior Farming Reporter
THE Agricultural Rural Development Authority has secured partners for all its five estates in Matabeleland South and North provinces as it seeks to boost production which had collapsed due to negligence and funding constraints. In an interview Arda board chairman Mr Basil Nyabadza said at Ingwizi in Mangwe and Antelope in Maphisa they had partnered with Trek Petroleum.
He said at Sedgwick Estate in Tsholotsho, Arda was working with Mr Vengai Runyowa.
Mr Runyowa is the managing director of Kobb chickens farm located in Kensington in Bulawayo.
At Balu in Umguza, Mr Nyabadza said his organisation was working with Mr Ashton Ndlovu, former chief executive officer of Rio Zim.
For the Jotsholo farm, he said they had partnered a Chinese company although he could not reveal the name.
Mr Nyabadza said they were opening additional land in preparation for the summer cropping season where 1 200 hectares is targeted for maize production.
“Work is in progress at all our estates in Matabeleland region and this is due to private investors partnering Arda in reviving all our estates both in Matabeleland South and North.
Under cropping, wheat and maize are being planted and under livestock, cattle and goats are being reared while in oilseeds, cotton is a targeted crop,” said Mr Nyabadza.
He said the parastatal was pleased to have secured the investors most of them domestic, in the joint venture to augment the country’s cereals production.
“Equally, water which has been lying idle at Ingwizi Dam and Antelope Dam is now being utilised to irrigate the farms,” said Mr Nyabadza.
Mr Nyabadza said in addition to cereal production, livestock programmes were under way and that, he added, would trigger positive movement on livestock related industries within the region.
At Ngwezi Estate, he said work was under way to clear the 18-kilometre canal so that the estate could access water for the 600 hectares summer maize crop that would be planted.
At Sedgwick Estate in Tsholotsho, cattle breeding is being practised and the company has a 600 head of cattle.
Mr Nyabadza said they were also rebuilding paddocks and fencing the estate and that all this work had created employment for the villagers.
“We are hoping to expand on the cattle ranching project. In Balu we have a 200 head and we are also engaged in the rehabilitation of paddocks and clearing of the canal from Balu Dam. We are also seeking an investor to set up a dairy project,” he said.
In Lupane, at Jotsholo Estate, he said, a cotton seed crop was under production in a partnership with a Chinese investor.
“The challenge is to improve the water source and we are trying to manage the siltation of the dam to expand on cropping and this may translate to rice production,” he said.
In 2008, Arda embarked on a turnaround programme which entailed courting investors to revive business on its estates, which had collapsed during the hyperinflationary period.
Meanwhile, Mr Nyabadza, who is also the Agricultural Marketing Authority chairman, said a special meeting would be held in Bulawayo with the livestock industry players to discuss their challenges and opportunities as well as map a way forward.
He said AMA had found it necessary to hold the outreach programme starting in Matabeleland region.
“It is hoped the meeting will tackle the issues at hand in a frank manner so that quality information is relayed to policy makers. The livestock industry, if managed well, will trigger a huge offtake on cropping products namely soya bean and cotton seed cake leading to resumption of export of beef to Asian markets,” Mr Nyabadza said.
