Teacher digs gold in fisheries, beekeeping

Precious Manomano Herald Reporter

A TEACHER at Mazowe Citrus Secondary School no longer struggles on his salary after he pursued lucrative profits in farming.

Mr Anderson Chibatauta is into apiculture, aquaculture, and mushroom growing which has transformed his life as he practised the agriculture he learnt at Zimbabwe Open University.

Mr Chibatauta is taking the farm business seriously which most of his counterparts take for granted and has now built a house and bought two cars. He started a range of farm activities in 2017 with the help of his wife and four children.

“On average l earn US$360 per week from mushroom farming. I’m doing this at the school but l have a passion for having a farm so that l embark on bigger production. I also sell different types of fish and l have 50 bee hives which produce around 500kg per month,” Mr Chibatauta said.

He grows mushrooms in buckets which last for six months. The buckets are meant for urban set-ups where there is limited space for farming. The initiative means people can eat mushrooms anytime they want.

“I have commercial and small-scale settings. In the bucket we put substrate, this involves cotton and maize stalks. What is important is to know about the project so as a teacher l train people online or physically so that you acquire good amounts of money,” he said.

Mr Chibatauta urged other people to embark on these activities saying he is living a better life. He is supplying honey, fish, and mushrooms to local markets.

In a recent interview, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Deputy Minister Davis Marapira urged farmers in drier regions to adopt fish farming and not concentrate on crops adding that farmers should diversify to mitigate the effects of climate change.