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Elita Chikwati Agriculture Reporter
The Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) is expecting high yields of wheat and irrigated maize at its estates this season as the institution starts benefiting from Public-Private Partnerships, a Government official said yesterday.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development responsible for crops, Cde Davis Marapira, said nearly all the estates were now functional.
“Arda farms are doing well under the tripple Ps. The estates have improved in terms of capacity utilisation and yields. We are expecting eight tonnes of wheat per hectare at Antelope Farm and Fair Acres Farm .
“We also expect high yields from the 800 hectares of maize that were planted at Arda Maphisa and more than 700 ha at Ngwezi Farm,” he said.
Cde Marapira said Doris Flight Farm in Kadoma had planted 300 hectares of maize while other farms had planted soya beans.
“Arda Farms will be put to good use considering the state of the art machinery we have.
“We are using state of the art machinery such as centre pivots, tractors and planting drills. Fair Acres in Midlands planted 285 hectares of soya beans with a yield potential of four to five hectares and 485 ha are under wheat. Arda Antelope in Matabeleland South has 430 ha of wheat, Arda Nandi has 300ha of sugarcane and Arda Bali had 500 breeding cattle,” he said.
“We still have companies that are willing to partner Arda. Takers are coming and we take the best,” he said.
Cde Marapira said the revival of the farms that were once idle would boost national food security and create employment.
“Several Arda estates have been revived through the PPPs and are now among the best entities. The farms which are highly mechanised have irrigation schemes and are producing crops such as sugarcane, soya beans, maize and wheat.
Cde Marapira said some of the estates were venturing into value addition with processing of the produce being done on the farm.
“Arda Esigodini has ventured into tomato processing. Some of the farms will be processing flour while others produce mealie meal on the farm.
“The contracts are for five years and are renewable. The investors we have are in the process of increasing operations and soon we will have most of the farms fully utilising all the arable land,” he said.
He said the joint ventures would also create employment opportunities for surrounding communities.
Arda estates had been lying idle with only Chisumbanje operating viably.
The parastatal was facing serious financial challenges that were threatening its survival.
Arda has 21 farms with 98 000 hectares of arable land with irrigable capacity of 19 000 hectares.
Online Reporter