Chronicle Editor
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
A NEW player in citrus production, Top pick Investments, has embarked on a massive project in Beitbridge having planted over 100 000 orange trees, from nearly 280 000 trees targeted to have been planted by the end of 2023.
The company, whose farm is located 83km west of Beitbridge town, has so far planted 110 800 orange trees of the Ben Valencia, Midnight and Teddy varieties on 400 hectares at Zhovhe Farm.
Land preparation is already underway on another 200ha.
Zhovhe Farm manager Mr Mthulisi Sibanda said they were targeting to plant oranges on at least 1 000ha by the end of next year. He said they had since constructed a pipeline to boost the new citrus farming projects at the farm.
“We are hard at work on the ground and in the last 10 months we managed to plant 110 800 orange trees on 400ha. At the moment, we are working on land preparation on another 200ha and we expect to have imported 60 000 propagating seeds from South Africa by the end of April this year.
“In our nursery, we are currently having 10 000 trees. The citrus propagating material is being imported in batches from South Africa,” said Mr Sibanda.
He said the new pipeline from Zhovhe Dam was meant to boost irrigation development at the highly integrated farm, which has horticulture crops, livestock, and fisheries production.
Mr Sibanda said they had decided to venture into citrus production which has high returns on the local and export markets.
He said they were also working on the final stage of installing a micro-jet citrus irrigation system.
“We expect to start harvesting the oranges within the next three or four years and increase production. The Midnight and Teddy varieties ripen fast. You will note that our farm is located in an area where climatic conditions are conducive for citrus production,” said Mr Sibanda.
Since the organisation started operating in Beitbridge in 2015, it has acquired 17 irrigation pivots to enhance crop production throughout the year.
Top Pick Investments intends to set up a modern pack-shade within the farm and to construct a 750 kilowatts solar plant to augment power supplies at the farm.
Prior to the latest developments, they were specialising in other cash crops like maize, soya beans, groundnuts as well as livestock and fish farming.
Top Pick Investment chief executive Mr Danisa Moyo said they recently assembled a complete fish hatchery.
“This is supported by 24 floating cages, each with a carrying capacity of 100 000 fish. At the moment five cages are stocked with 400 000 fish,” he said.
Mr Moyo said they have a staff complement of over 200 people from the Beitbridge District and more will be hired when the citrus project peaks.
The company also has a chain of service stations, a funeral parlour, and two lodges, Zhovhe Leisure Park and Makhado Lodge in Beitbridge. – @tupeyo
Online Reporter