The ManicaPost
Liberty Dube
Post Correspondent
MORE young people should be accorded a chance to venture into farming to boost the country’s socio-economic development as well as promote self-sustenance.
Speaking on the sidelines of a recent tour of farming projects done by young farmers in Manicaland, Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries, Climate and Rural Settlements Deputy Minister, Cde Douglas Karoro hailed young farmers in the province for being hardworking and ambitious.
“They (young farmers) are proving to be productive. They are hard workers and they have the zeal to take agriculture to another level. Their concerted efforts to be productive should not go unnoticed as they aim to feed into the national reserves,” he said.
He hailed youthful farmers such as Messers Tinashe Magwira of Arda Transau and Rusape-based Shepherd Nyika, who were in attendance with the latter having been over the years renting farms and producing bumper yields.
Mr Nyika until recently did not own a piece of land and was renting 280 hectares where he grew maize under Command Agriculture. He has been self-sponsoring the production of various crops such as maize, soya and sugar bean.
Mr Nyika this year harvested 2 000 tonnes of maize, 25 tonnes of sugar bean, eight tonnes of traditional grains as well as 50 tonnes of soya bean.
Deputy Minister Karoro said he was happy that Mr Nyika was allocated a 250-hecatre farm (Darkbridge Farm) situated in Nyazura by the Government to fully explore his farming initiatives.
“I am impressed by such a young farmer like Mr Shepherd Nyika. He managed to produce a bumper harvest from rented farms and plots. Now that he has been offered a 250-ha farm, we should expect bumper harvests from him.
“I am generally happy with the progress these young farmers are making and we will continue to support them as Government. I urge them to take farming as a business venture and as a source of employment.”
Mr Nyika, in a separate interview, said: “I am happy that I have been offered a piece of land by the Government. It was not easy to work on all the rented farms as they were about 40km apart, especially bearing in mind that I also have other projects to take care of.
“I will continue working hard and leading by example. I want to motivate fellow youths to embark on farming as it is a source of livelihood. I will champion Vision 2030 through fully utilising the land.”
