The Sunday News
Obey Sibanda, Features Reporter
A majority of youths from the Southern part of the country in Matabeleland North and South skip the country’s borders each year in search of perceived greener pastures in neighbouring countries and overseas. Numbers of desperate rural job seekers are swelling the peripheries of the towns and cities in South Africa.
It is therefore not surprising to see growing human mobility, involving less skilled and highly skilled workers, as people search for “greener pastures” in South Africa due to erratic rains and poor harvest inland.
There are a number of obstacles faced by rural young people wishing to engage in agriculture. Among these is the stigma surrounding agriculture as a lifestyle and source of livelihood, restricted access to land, irrelevant education, inability to handle risk and poor access to finance.
Agriculture is generally perceived by youth as a low-status livelihood that does not offer attractive work opportunities and is, therefore, stigmatised.
Overall, fewer young people are choosing a life on the land. But in some places around the country, like Dibutibu in Tsholotsho, that trend is reversing. Lifestyle is tilting; agriculture may be getting big again.
Cotton now weaves together the lives of hundreds of villagers, who put cotton in the ground each year. These planters are convinced that tending this difficult and thirsty crop can yield more cash than they would otherwise be able to earn in the neighbouring country.
The bulk of Tsholotsho is among the hardest hit zones that have endured food shortages in the past few years and had to rely on aid from Government and Non-Governmental organisations.
The region has experienced a drastic decline in maize production since time immemorial due to recurrent droughts but cotton farming has put smile on faces of many farmers.
“Most farmers in Tsholotsho North are abandoning maize growing, and have switched to growing cotton and small grains which are drought resistant in search of cash,” said Mr Patrick Nyoni, a renowned cotton farmer.
For many years every farming season, Mr Nyoni (60), a businessman and a communal farmer in Dibutibu toiled all day in his sun-scorched maize fields for little or no returns at all.
Despite the evidently poor performance of maize in the area as a result of the effects of climate change, Nyoni has for years been fiercely resisting advice from agricultural experts to plant cotton or small grains.
Maize farming was a business he knew so well from childhood. Farmers around Dibutibu could not afford to pay fees for their children and earn livelihoods from maize growing.
Things have, however, changed for Mr Nyoni just like it has changed for many other cotton growers in his district.
“Cotton growers are now counted among the richest in the district owing to expert advice. Cotton farming has changed my life. I can sustain my business with cotton proceeds and I boast of more than 700 head of cattle,” said Nyoni who is also the ward councillor.
With his bountiful harvest he has sought to diversify his income stream by sprucing his shopping complex at the heart of Dibutibu in Mlangisa communal land.
A new cotton farmer Mr Langelihle Ncube (22) will soon acquire farming machinery, which he previously begged for from neighbouring farmers, due to his added financial muscle.
“At a minimum price of $0,55 per kilogramme, I’m hoping to realise better income from the crop this season and this will help me improve my standard of living. I managed to get ten bales of cotton. With the proceeds I will able to buy a scotch cart and other farming implements that I have been longing for, for many years,” said an ecstatic Ncube.
The plan by Government to provide small farmers with inputs for growing cotton has helped boost farm growth, tame poverty among the rural poor and most importantly has created jobs.
Implemented by the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe under the Presidential Cotton Input Scheme, it is targeting 400 000 households countrywide, giving out key inputs such as 20 kilograms seed, 2 bags of basal fertiliser compound L, an assortment of agro-chemicals for pest control and a knapsack sprayer.
Speaking during the official launch of the cotton Presidential inputs scheme for Tsholotsho which is meant to cover the 2018-2019 agricultural season, Matabeleland North minister of State for Provincial Affairs Cde Cain Mathema said the scheme is meant to enable smallholder farmers to become food secure as well as address nutritional requirements at household level.
“The cotton programme is aimed at supporting the production of this very strategic crop in the dry-agro-ecological regions of the country, which include this important farming area of Tsholotsho. Villagers are becoming their own bosses and are sending their children to school with more ease,” said Cde Mathema.
Mathema highlighted that the Government has availed inputs to farmers early in the year to show Government’s commitment to support farmers by availing critical production inputs that will result in increased productivity.
“This also gives us time to mobilise and distribute inputs before the start of the rains. It’s also important that the inputs are used properly for us to achieve the desired benefits and we become masters of our own destinies.”
Agritex and Cottco extension staff will provide training to farmers and carry out demonstration before the season starts. The farmer training programme will be an ongoing activity throughout the season. The Agritex staff will also monitor utilisation of the inputs and provide appropriate advice.
Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco) Mr Pious Manamike said the company had already started with distribution of cotton inputs and promised farmers that he will provide machinery to all cotton farmers for them to realise their full potential.
“We will give a tractor to every village for free to assist cotton farmers. We will start by tilling the land for the elderly and you won’t pay any cent for the tractor,” said Manamike.
Chief Mathuphula extended his gratitude to both Government and Cottco saying the inputs will go a long way in enhancing development.
“This is the time when we need to develop even in our fields and homesteads. I urge villagers to take such programmes seriously and use them to develop their livelihoods,” said the chief.
