The Sunday News
Walter Mswazie in Masvingo
WHEN the Government initiated the land reform programme at the turn of the millennium after many years of dithering by some white farmers who held on to vast tracts of land at the expense of the majority and landless black people, thousands lined up to get the resource but somehow others have not been able to use it productively.
Many theories have been told but the reality is, some people owned big farms without any clue on how to make them productive.
Huge and once productive farms have been lying idle for more than 10 years leading to calls for the Government to carry out a land audit to establish how the land is being utilised.
Those who do not have land are calling for the repossession of the resource from unproductive farmers to more deserving and productive ones.
However, there are some farmers who have vowed to emulate what former commercial white farmers were doing and even surpass the yesteryear production.
These are farmers that Government should have all the reasons to support given their commitment in giving back Zimbabwe’s breadbasket status in the Sadc region.
Most of the farmers are found in the lowveld sugarcane estates of Hippo Valley and one of them is a retired army captain, Cde Faster Gono (56).
Despite owning only 26 hectares, the former gunman is doing wonders, producing an average of 120 tonnes of sugarcane per hectare per season. He is one of the best farmers in the lowveld and has also made his commitment to keep contributing to the national fiscus through sugarcane farming.
He does not confine his energies to sugarcane farming only but he is a proud owner of 68 cattle, 15 of which are dairy, producing more than 50 litres of milk daily. The former freedom fighter who is also an engineer by profession says the sky is the limit for him as he had taken farming as a business that he wishes would keep blossoming.
A father of five, Cde Gono says his secret to success is discipline, hard work and shunning all forms of corruption adding that he believes there is no shortcut to success.
He said he toiled to be where he is today adding that he had a clean record even from his days in the protracted liberation struggle where he worked with a high degree of discipline and transparency.
Cde Gono joined the armed struggle at the tender age of 15. He said he did his engineering training in Tanzania, and he single-handedly constructed a dam in his farm at a cost of $68 000.
The dam has already started collecting water that is now being used to water his farm whose sugarcane crop is at different stages of maturity.
A visit to Cde Gono’s farm, Farm 17 in the Hippo Valley Estates recently tells a story of success as the Sunday News crew was welcomed by a thriving sugarcane crop.
He said he occupied the farm in 2008 after getting an offer letter a year earlier and since then he has never looked back.
Unlike other farmers who only rushed to take over houses that were owned by white farmers Cde Gono changed the face of a former white farmer‘s house and made a number of renovations on it.
He has also not changed the white man’s maid whose quality of life has improved, contrary to the belief that blacks do not make good “bosses”.
However, Cde Gono decried the lack of grazing land saying he had resorted to zero grazing where he feeds the animals with sugarcane stalks as well as stock feed.
He said there are no pastures within the farm but was quick to say, he would not apply for more land at the expense of other deserving but landless Zimbabweans.
Cde Gono said he was opposed to owning many farms and appealed to the powers that be to address the cancerous vice of “hoarding” resources depriving equally deserving citizens.
He says despite Tongaat Hullet’s reluctance to support indigenous farmers as the sole local market for the crop, he had toiled and soldiered on using his resources to hire machinery for the construction of the dam.
The dam construction project, he said, had become a turning point in his farming business and it had helped him plan ahead, as it was now a source of water for his cattle kept on the same piece of land.
“My ethos and work ethic is derived from my experience as a soldier and I am inspired by what President Mugabe said at independence that, “Surely this is now time to turn our swords into ploughshares.” He meant it was time to work for the country to bury our differences and work hard.
“I am one of the best farmers in the lowveld because I take more than 120 tonnes of raw sugarcane to Tongaat’s Hippo Valley milling machine every season. I can tell you indigenous farmers here are doing wonders. What we only need is support from Tongaat as our major market.
“The industry will not be the same without committed farmers. My secret to success is discipline and my hatred of corruption. I have hated corruption from my tender age, ” said Cde Gono.
He said had it not been for the fact that his farm was once set on fire by what he described as unscrupulous men who have begrudged him for denouncing corruption in the lowveld sugar industry, he could have been very far.
Cde Gono said because of his stance against corruption he had faced a number of people who were challenging his stance on the vice but as a trained soldier he will not be moved by saboteurs and will continue working for his country.
“We are producing 120 tonnes from this farm every season and sometimes I surpass that but this year I have produced less because my farm was once set on fire.
“That is the work of saboteurs who are benefiting from corruption which has pervaded our society and are not comfortable with my stance because I strongly denounce it. After becoming a victim of suspected arson I cleared less than one hectare and started sugarcane cultivation from which I realised about $21 000 and yet I had only used $7 000,” said Cde Gono.
Farm supervisor Mr Leonard Shumba said the reason why Farm 17 remains one of the best farms in the lowveld in terms of production was because it was manned by trained personnel with vast experience in sugarcane cultivation.
“I have been an overseer for Tongaat Hullet for 29 years, a position equal to assistant section manager. I am a repository of expertise and the rightful skills in sugarcane farming and I make sure that every crop planted under my supervision is seen up to maturity without facing any challenge. That is why Farm 17 has become a model of good farming in the lowveld,” said Mr Shumba.
He said he had vast experience in farm management and was led in the construction of a dam as the project demanded too much supervision in matters to do with expenditure and calculations of hours taken by the hired machinery.
He said the caterpillar hired for the dam construction was paid for per number of hours spent working and that would call for special expertise which could not be easily delegated.
Mr Mahlahla Ruwangira, a sugarcane cutter said Cde Gono’s farm had stood the test of time and was a source of livelihood for many youths in the area as they got employed whenever the sugarcane is being harvested.
“This farm has provided us with hope when a number of farmers here are struggling. There are farmers here some with degrees in agriculture but the situation in their farms is an eyesore.
“If you move around Farm 17, you will see the difference between Cde Gono’s crop and other neighbouring farms. The management at the farm is determined and have the capacity to make things happen,” said Mr Ruwangira.
Cde Gono’s mother, Ms Ellen Masiyamombe (82) also lives at the farm house and sings praises of her son saying she would continue praying for his success in life.
“My son has been a vigilant man since birth and when he joined the war at the tender age of 15 we never feared for him because we knew he was a courageous man. I thank God who gave me such a hardworking son like Faster. He has been living with me here since he was offered this farm by the Government,” said Ms Masiyamombe.
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