Chronicle Editor
Lumbidzani Dima, Chronicle Reporter
A FOUR-member group from Bubi District in Matabeleland North proved its resilience in a difficult agriculture season, scooping the overall first group prize for the second year running during the Zimbabwe International Trade fair (ZITF).
Despite the prolonged dry spell that affected crops countrywide resulting in some farmers registering a crop write-off, the Mathole group, named after a village in Bubi where the members come from, went home smiling again last Saturday, thanks to their decision to practice the climate proofed Intwasa/Pfumvudza farming method .
The Mathole group is led by Ms Nothani Ngwenya who does her farming with her son and two of her neighbours and they were exhibiting maize, millet, sorghum, wheat and beans which they grew.
Ms Ngwenya also got an individual first prize in the fruits and vegetables category during the ZITF’s produce market exhibition.
The Bubi award winning group came out as the overall best as it did the previous year at the ZITF. The group won a cultivator, 20kg SeedCo maize seeds, 20kg valley seeds, 20kg Zadzamatura seeds, 50kg Agriseeds, 10kg K2 seeds, two shovels, two slashers, two axes and a 200g Intaba insecticide dust.
“We are just four in our group, farming on a three-acre field. We do not have any special tools, we just do Intwasa/Pfumvudza concept, but here we are taking position one for the second time in a row. Last year we also scooped the first prize, how wonderful is the Lord we serve. I’m so happy,” she said.
Ms Ngwenya said after mastering the skills, she decided that more hands were needed in her farming venture, hence she then formed her own group. She said this year’s prize came as a shocker because the exhibition requirements were different from the previous years and they never thought they would pull it off.
“This is surprising to me, because judging from the way things looked, I never thought I would come out tops. This was a new system of value addition, and I never thought we would excel in it. We exhibited basketry, woodwork, metal work, pottery and then all sorts of crops,” she said.
On position two stood Bhomela group also from Bubi District in Ward 5, Village 18. The group consists of eight-member neighbours, five women and three men, and is led by Ms Pauline Nyoni.
Ms Nyoni said their group does its farming activities on a 12-hectare field. They exhibited maize, wheat, pearl millet, sorghum, water melons, melons, ground nuts, beans, sunflower, sesame, and this was the group’s sixth time exhibiting.
“We have never gone home without a prize, we always win, and this is exactly what keeps us going forward. The prizes are our greatest motivators. When we came here, we were confident in our produce but after seeing the number of groups that were exhibiting, we kind of lost hope, but we ended up getting the second-best prize which means we did exceptionally well,” she said.
At position three was Zamani group of Bubi, on position four was Sebhume group from Nkayi, while Balanda group from Bubi stood on position five, underlining how farmers from Bubi District are taking farming seriously.
In interviews, all the prize-winning groups said their members are constituted by more women as men wanting to make fast cash through mining and other jobs that bring in fast money while forgetting that farming brings food to the table.
A total of 1 600 farmers exhibited their produce with the exhibitions starting on April 20 to enable judges to do a thorough and fair job.
The judges were drawn from different ministries and parastatals related to agriculture, with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, and the Matopo Agricultural Research team taking the lead.
Produce Hall committee member Mrs Irene Mundembe recently said they started off by staging on April 20, whereby all exhibitors were coming in with their products for two days then judges started judging in the following two days.
When judging they were looking at things such as dryness, diseases, pest infections and the uniformity of grains.
The guest of honor for the ZITF farmers’ produce prize giving day, Zadzamatura Managing Director, Dr Daniel Myers hailed the farmers for their resilience and capabilities during a difficult farming season.
“It was not an easy season for most of the farmers to grow the various crops that I have seen exhibited in the Produce Hall. This is evidence enough that our farmers are resilient and capable of excelling in the farming business. I would like to encourage all farmers to continue improving their performance by adopting the Intwasa/Pfumvudza programme for sustainable food production.
The 2021/22 agricultural season was characterised by long dry spells and long wet spells as well. However, the quality of the crops displayed is quite commendable despite the poor rainfall distribution,” he said.
Dr Myers said although it is the staple crop in Zimbabwe, maize remains one of the most challenging crops to grow, and this is evidenced by the national average yield which has remained below one tonne per hectare over the years despite having high yielding varieties on the market.
“Farmers are therefore encouraged to use sustainable Pfumvudza/Intwasa methods of Conservation Agriculture practices in order to increase maize and other small grains yield,” he said.
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