The Sunday News
Melinda Ncube, Sunday News Reporter
A BULAWAYO woman has defied all odds and managed to harvest 144 kilogrammes of the second most valuable cash crop in the country- cotton at her small community garden, in Nketa 7.
In Zimbabwe, cotton is said to perform well in Midlands Province especially in Gokwe, parts of Mashonaland Central, Lowveld and in Binga in the Zambezi Valley of the Matabeleland North province.
The crop thrives in areas that have high temperatures and receive rainfall of between 400mm and 600mm per annum.
However, for Mrs Dorcas Ncube (58) what started off as an experiment, after being introduced to cotton farming at her rural home in Nkayi, she has arguably become one of the first small-scale farmers in Bulawayo to have successfully taken up cotton farming.
“I learnt how to grow cotton when I was in Nkayi and when I came to Bulawayo with the seed which I had, I wanted to experiment with the suitability of the soil for cotton farming and it turned out to be growing so well,” said Mrs Ncube.
Mrs Ncube said she has been getting assistance from a farmer whom she identified as MaNyoni from Agricultural Extension Services (Agritex), who had also imparted knowledge to her on cotton farming.
“With this development of cotton farming in Bulawayo, I would like to teach other women and youths on cotton farming, as this could be a potential employment creating project.
“My appeal is, however, to the council and the Government, to realise the potential this project has in Bulawayo and give us more land to farm at a much bigger scale.
“However, I would like to thank our ward councillor, Mzama Dube for his support and offering me a small piece of land for me to practice cotton farming as well as the community development group members led by Mr Simon Mayaka and Miah Mutungura for recognising my project,” said Mrs Ncube.
In an interview, Clr Dube, said when Mrs Ncube initially approached him, community members were reluctant to support her cotton farming venture but he had managed to convince them to allocate a small portion in the community garden which had thus far yielded positive results.
He said in his ward they had agreed to set aside any political inclinations and work as one in fostering development, revealing that he was now excited that this attitude was seeing them contributing to the country’s cotton stock.
“When I was on my way to allocate land to the residents of Nketa, I saw Mrs Ncube in her garden and this is when I discovered that she had been practising cotton farming.
“I appealed to the other members of the community to give her a bigger piece of land so that she can continue with her cotton farming. She has managed to harvest 144kg of cotton which is something encouraging,” said Clr Dube.
