The Sunday News
Michael Magoronga
A KWEKWE-based farmer has ventured into fruit farming, focusing on passion fruit, with the view of satisfying both the local and export markets.
The US$100 000 venture has seen the farmer planting his first crop of granadilla fruit which he expects to yield returns within a year.
A holder of a Bachelor of Technology Engineering Degree, Eng Sam Gomba (56) has traversed the agricultural sector which has seen him venture into cabbage farming, cattle ranging and now fruit farming.
After quitting his job close to two decades ago, Eng Gomba started a milling company in Kwekwe before he ventured into cattle ranging where he owned about 300 beasts.
The cattle project saw him purchase a 20-hectare plot just outside Kwekwe where he started growing cabbages, tomatoes, cucumber and peppers. He also started a poultry project and became a major supplier of fresh farm produce in and around Kwekwe.
In 2021, Eng Gomba decided to disinvest in cattle and sold what had been left of his 300 cattle to invest in the granadilla project.
“At our peak, we had about 300 cattle but we downsized to about 150 cattle after we discovered that our cattle were congested at our 1 300-hectare piece of land. With such a big herd, we required at least 3 000 hectares of land. That’s when we decided to sell them and invest in fruit farming,” he said.
Although he planted other fruits such as oranges, paw-paw, mangoes, lemons, and apples, Eng Gomba discovered that there was a shortage of passion fruit in Zimbabwe and decided to venture into large scale farming of the fruit.
“The white farmers are the ones who used to plant granadillas but after the land reform, blacks seemed hesitant to take up the project. It took us a lot of research though to venture into the project. I went as far as South Africa where I conducted my surveys and eventually bought the first nursery which is doing well at the plot,” he said.
Eng Gomba said Kwekwe had favourable climatic conditions which allowed the crop to thrive.
With 15 hectares of arable land at the plot, Eng Gomba planted the granadilla plant on 5 hectares which he said is thriving and looks forward to planting another 5 hectares by March this year.
“We planted the Esther and the Christine varieties and as you can see, they’re doing well, even better than we expected. We are no longer purchasing seeds but we are now producing our own seedlings and we are calling upon any other farmer who wants to venture into this program to come and get seedlings from us,” he said.
Eng Gomba said the farm has abundant water to irrigate the whole 15 hectares of arable land as there are 2 boreholes which supply about 20 000litres of water per hour.
Since he is an engineer by profession, Eng Gomba does most of the connections for the drip irrigation system at the farm and makes use of locally available resources such as organic manure.
“We use drip irrigation and I’m the one who does all the connections and repairs. Water is abundantly available. We use manure that we collect from Kwekwe abattoir, mix it with chicken manure as well as cabbages and we cover it for about a week or so. We utilise locally available resources in whatever we do at this farm,” he said.
In terms of turnover, Eng Gomba said he was expecting at least 2 tonnes per hectare with the turnover increasing with time.
“By April, we’ll start flight picking and by May we’re expecting the turnover to have increased to 1 tonne per hectare. By June we’re expecting it to double to 2 tonnes per hectare and by then we would’ve added another 5 hectares. So, in total we’ll be expecting between 15 to 20 tonnes per 5 hectares,” said Eng Gomba.
He said the US$100 000 investment is worth it and is expected to yield about US$500 000 within the first year, if the crops perform as expected.
Eng Gomba said although there is high demand for the fruit outside the country, his wish is to satisfy the local market and even add value before venturing into the export market.
The Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda)
“We shouldn’t be importing juice, instead we should be making our own and exporting the final product. As we speak, there’s a South African Company which enquired and they want 200 tonnes per year. There’s a ready market of about 60 tonnes of passion fruit in Europe,” he said.
Eng Gomba said he looks forward to establishing his own juice making company using the passion fruits, mangoes, apples and other fruits he plants at the farm.
“Remember we have that huge piece of land in Silobela which is lying idle; we’re planting paw-paws there and in the near future, we’re looking to set up a juice making factory there,” he said.
Eng Gomba, a former Arda Board vice chairperson, said the country’s target of an US$8 billion agriculture sector by 2025, is an understatement.
“Zimbabweans have the capacity to surpass that target if they commit to fruit farming. We have all the resources, land, abundant water and all,” he said.
Eng Gomba however, decried lack of financial support saying local banks need to understand the nature of investment before shutting doors on farmers.
Midlands State University
While Eng Gomba concentrates more on the passion fruit project, his wife who holds a degree in Business Management is now running their poultry project as his son is pursuing an Agribusiness Degree at the Midlands State University.
“My wife has more than 1 000 birds and she’s the one who’s marketing the cabbages, pepper and other smaller projects. My son Kumbirai recently acquired a diploma in Agriculture in Kenya and is now pursuing a degree. He’s the one running the paw-paw and granadilla nursery projects,” he said.
The family has also taken on board an Agriculture student from Bindura State University who is on attachment at the plot.
Eng Gomba said nothing would stop him from investing in cattle if he wishes because he would have recovered the investment within a short space of time.
