The Sunday News
TEDDY Ncube, in an article titled, “Communal farms are also commercial farms: Lessons from Hon Cain Mathema”, argues that rural farmers have always had the capacity to make financial rewards from their farm produce.
In fact, he argues, farmers in rural areas, the so called peasant farmers, are also commercial farmers because what they produce has commercial value to sustain their livelihoods.
“According to Mathema (2017), blacks were dispossessed of their farming land, their livestock was looted (through the Loot committee, one of whose chairman was John Meikle, whose family created the Meikles chain of businesses in virtually every town in Zimbabwe) and forced to live in African or native reserves.
In the African Reserves, today’s Communal Lands, Africans were only allowed to produce just enough to survive, they were turned into subsistence livestock and crop farmers, and they were only allowed a limited number of cattle on a limited land size per family.
As a result, they were forced to grow crops for subsistence only, and raise cattle, again, for subsistence purposes only.
Essentially, they were allowed to produce enough for them to eat and have enough energy to produce more slaves for the ruling class.
That is why there was no piped water or meaningful dams in the African Reserves; one does not need these if one engages in farming just to fill their stomach. For this all one needs to wait for the rains, a flowing river or stream, a well and a hand-driven borehole (isikotsho).
And that is why one does not need electricity either even if that electricity is produced by water from a river or a coal mine next to one’s barn or cattle enclosure as in the case in Hwange, Binga and Kariba.”
And true to the thrust by President Mnangagwa to ensure that every community participates in the country’s economic growth, the Second Republic has put in measures to capacitate rural farmers and ensure that they get value for their sweat. And last year, the country achieved the highest traditional grains production volume, while maize production was the second highest since independence, with a huge chunk coming from rural farmers.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka is on record as saying Government wanted rural households to move from subsistence farming to surplus oriented farming.
“Last year we had a bumper harvest.
The statistics are gratifying.
We achieved the highest traditional grains production volume since independence. We achieved the second highest maize production since independence.
We are poised for the highest wheat harvest since independence. But this is neither about historical, nor contemporary comparisons.
This is about Vision 2030. We must ensure that the 2,3 million rural households move from subsistence farming to surplus-oriented farming.
We must ensure that the 360 000 A1 farms become Small to Medium Enterprises.
I see 360 000 businesses.
I see each employing two people, so cumulatively some 720 000 jobs.
We are duty bound to ensure that the 21 000 A2 farmers become businesswomen and businessmen, in short, that they become perennially successful and serial agro-prenuers.
I see another 21 000 businesses employing an average of 10 people each, so 210 000 formally employed,” said Minister Masuka.
He added that focus must be on increased production, higher production and improved profitability.
The thrust by Government has started to bear fruit, with some farmers in rural areas making financial gains from agricultural products, which were spearhead by Government.
In Lupane, Matabeleland North province, villagers have started to receive financial rewards from the Bubi-Lupane Irrigation Scheme, which is managed by the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda).
The ministry has also capacitated Agricultural extension officers so that they are able to work closely with communal farmers, a move that has improved crop and livestock produce across the country.
The Bubi-Lupane Irrigation Scheme was launched by President Mnangagwa last year and was identified as a pilot project for an integrated business model to be replicated across all the country’s provinces as part of the National Food Security Strategy.
