The Sunday News
Mesabe Ncube Business reporter
FOR many people in rural areas subsistence farming has been a part of their lives for many years. Few have taken the step to graduate into commercial farming and one of them is Mr Dumisani Maphalala Mantula (42), who has emerged from the traditional society of Diba in Plumtree to become one of the leading local pioneers of the transition from subsistence to commercial farming in Ward 2 of Bulilima District.
Having been conducting small scale farming activities from his homestead for the past five years, Mr Mantula has decided to go commercial, drawing his fellow villagers along.
“We started this with a peasant mind, but after discovering that the projects were generating income, we decided to go commercial and move away from the traditional approach to farming,” he said.
Bulilima is a semi-arid region with below average rainfall. Without any irrigation systems in place, villagers have resorted to drilling their own boreholes to enhance farming activities.
“Commercial farming needs a continuous supply of water,” said Miss Primrose Sibindi, an employee at the farming homestead. She is also a trained agricultural practitioner from the Agricultural Institute of Natisa, Matobo District.
Miss Sibindi supervises all the farming activities at the homestead which employs not less than 10 casual workers during cultivating and harvesting seasons. The workers are paid an average R500 per month.
Other villagers have been hired and paid in the form of grain for less strenuous tasks.
From a total of not less than five homesteads that have drilled boreholes and set up 5 000-litre tanks to store water and enhance farming activities, Mr Mantula has taken a leading role in investing in infrastructure.
“I have constructed a water tank and set up a submersible pump which is power driven,” he said, adding that the engine drives water from the tanks to water the plants, pushing 10 sprinklers at a time. “All of that cost me more than $7 000 and I still haven’t finished as I am yet to buy a drip irrigation equipment to conserve water.”
He said their intention as upcoming commercial farmers in the village was to use all the land at their disposal to improve food security in their region and countrywide.
Their major challenge, however, is the non-availability of resources and relevant knowledge to fund and run their projects respectively.
Among other costs of operating the projects is obtaining the unique types of fertilisers which cost at least $44 a bag.
“We are appealing to the Government to avail funding in the form of credit facilities to enable us as new farmers to start up sustainable farming projects,” he said.
Government is on record encouraging farmers to take farming as a commercial venture to boost the food industry.
Its intent was first shown when it went on a massive land redistribution programme at the turn of the new millennium resulting in thousands of landless people being allocated land.
Over the years, Government working with various support organisations has availed various programmes meant to support the farmers.
