adminTendai Gukutikwa
CIMATE change and the country’s struggling economy has forced many schools in Honde Valley to be innovative and venture into agricultural activities in-order to supplement their income. A good number of schools from the area have adopted banana farming projects to help them sustain the high number of pupils who cannot afford paying school fees because of their poor backgrounds.
One such school is Samanga Primary School in Mutasa District’s Honde Valley.
The school has a one-hectare banana plantation with a total of 1 200 banana plants that produce four to five tonnes of the fruit per harvest. A total of 700 plants are currently producing fruit, while 500 are still young plants.
Williams Hybrid and Asdia bananas are the two varieties that the school grows.
The plantation which requires a lot of inputs and care has benefited the school significantly.
Having been initiated by the School Development Committee chairperson, Mr Luke Nyakuchena and his deputy, Mr Tambudzai Chirinda in 2012, the project has scored a lot of successes to the school.
The excessive profit making project has helped in the paying of 200 out of the school’s 400 pupils’ school fees. Some of the beneficiaries are orphaned.
“The project was mooted after we realised that half of the school’s enrolment was struggling to pay fees because of their poor background.
The project which has contributed so much towards the alleviation of poverty that had been the order of the day for the Samanga people, has also helped in the improvement of the school’s teaching and learning materials and this has been evidenced by the recent merit award which was presented to the school by the Mutasa District Education sector.
Samanga Primary School received an electronic printer for being the most improved school in teaching and learning materials at the recently held Mutasa District Merit Awards ceremony.
The school’s deputy headmaster, Mr Nyasha Mufara, said the banana project was the secret behind the merit award.
“We have been able to cater for some administration costs like organising trips for the pupils, workshops for the teachers and currently the SDC is in the process of renovating our staff quarters and installing electricity,” said Mr Mufara.
Not only is the project benefiting the school community financially, it has also helped the pupils improve their practical farming participation.
Said Mr Mufara: “Our pupils have also advanced when it comes to farming matters and it is a remarkable achievement to us.”
The school is in the process of securing more land to extend their banana plantation.
Mutasa District Education Officer, Mr Zachariah Chikwangwani, applauded Honde Valley schools for their innovative projects and urged other schools to emulate them.
However, there will always be downs whenever there are ups, the Samanga Primary School banana project has its challenges which includes the shortage of inputs and negligence from some parents.
Mr Nyakuchena complained that they were not getting enough fruits when they harvested due to the shortage of inputs.
“We are facing a great challenge of fertilisers for our plants. The price is too high and that affects our production,” he lamented.
Munyuku Secondary, Gatsi Secondary, St Peter’s Mandeya Secondary, St Columbus’ Secondary, St Columbus’ Primary and Ruda Primary Schools are some of the schools in Honde Valley that have also adopted banana farming projects.
Online Reporter