- 16 Sep 2009 20:02
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http://allafrica.com/stories/200909150117.html
Isdore Guvamombe
15 September 2009
The Herald
Zimbabwe: Farmer Reaps Fruits of Land Reform
"Farming is business and an art in itself. At the moment my main problem is that my land has become too small for me," explains Bonde who occupies a 20-hectare plot at Adula Farm on the outskirts of Glendale but is leasing more land from his less enterprising neighbours.
"All the wealth I have acquired here is courtesy of the land reform programme. I had nothing. I came here in 2002 from my village in Shutu communal lands in Chiweshe with literary nothing but a master farmer certificate from a course sponsored for communal farmers by the Zimbabwe Farmers Union.
"I started with maize and moved to tobacco and wheat before eventually venturing into export vegetables like peas, broccoli and fine beans, this year."
Because his land has now become too small, Bonde now rents plots from neighbouring farmers.
Today, he has 60 hectares under wheat, 10 hectares of green peas, 5 hectares of fine beans, 2 hectares of broccoli, 2 hectares of cauliflower and has prepared land for 20 hectares of irrigation tobacco for the 2009 farming season.
The farmer has clinched a contract with Exort, a fresh produce export company based in Msasa in Harare, which is believed to have a contract with South African companies to supply vegetables during the 2010 World Cup finals.
In the just-ended tobacco marketing season, Bonde sold 28 000 kg or 28 tonnes of the golden leaf and hopes to double his output this coming season.
"I now have four tractors that I bought over the years and I want to replace some of them because they are two years old now. "The type of farming I am into needs smooth flowing schedules and any breakdown will give me problems and losses," says Bonde.
Bonde used to farm on a subsistence basis in his village and when the land reform programme started he was among a few young farmers who went for it.
"I have no regrets leaving the village for the farm. I think this is the best decision I have ever made. This is business and I wish to expand.
"What I was doing at the village was a joke compared to what I am doing now. With enough land, the sky is the limit."
In terms of labour Mr Bonde has 50 permanent workers and employs up to 100 more part-time workers per day when picking peas and harvesting broccoli and cauliflower or when picking or grading tobacco.
He has kept some experienced workers left behind by the former farm owner and sends a lorry to the nearby Chiweshe communal lands to pick up part time workers every morning before driving them back at the end of the day.
"I need these part time workers for picking or when harvesting so I send them a lorry in the morning and return them to their homes later in the day.
"I pay them well because I need them all the time. Without them things will not work," he says.
"One has to be prepared to wake up in the middle of the night and go to the fields to see if irrigation pipe lines have been changed or if the water pressure is okay.
"There is a team of guys who change the pipe lines after some stipulated hours so they must not sleep on duty. They need supervision."
When Zimbabwe embarked on land reform about a decade ago, many people who had been restricted to infertile communal lands by colonial Rhodesian land policy, grabbed the opportunity.
"I am helping some farmers who want to increase their production. They approached me after seeing what I am doing and I am helping them to develop their plots.
"I must say one needs to be a hard worker to turn into serious farming. I have cattle and goats too but I think I do better on the fields.
"With enough effort our country can retain its bread basket status," he says.
His is a clear story of the transformation from a peasant farmer to a commercial farmer contributing to Zimbabwe's export market.
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