Online Reporter
Edgar Vhera
Specialist Writer – Agribusiness
FARMERS must treat agriculture as a business, with the elderly sharing with young people their knowledge on how it creates generational wealth for the country’s agro-based economy.
This came out at the recent inaugural Federation of Young Farmers Clubs in Zimbabwe (FYFCZ) annual conference held in Harare, during which various young farmers who have turned themselves into serious agripreneurs over the years shared their experiences to encourage others to follow suit.
Contributing to the panel discussion titled: “Pace Setters, Large-scale Agriculture the Next Frontier, Creating the Perfect Hub and Spoke”, the panellists challenged young farmers to develop a long-term view of the industry.
“Agriculture gives generational wealth to those with passion. You must treat farming as a business and not an overnight money-making scheme.
“Most agricultural ventures go for four to five years without generating a profit and only the passionate with long-term views continue in the business,” Mashonaland West farmer and former bus operator Mr Fungai Makoni said.
He was born on a farm, but only started doing serious farming in 2012 and now has 15 000 hectares for cereal production in Mashonaland East, West, Manicaland and Masvingo provinces jointly.
“It takes passion first before a business begins, and agriculture needs business integrity, accounting, operations and structural systems in place.
“Farming is not an easy job, but it requires sacrifice, serious determination to build a generational business, not merely money-changing games,” he said.
He dispelled the belief that farming is for the elderly to retire to, saying agriculture was the backbone of the economy.
Another farmer in Mashonaland West, Mr Michael Mutasa, concurred, saying there was a need to change the narrative that farming is for the elderly.
“My father brought me up to see value in farming, and I am one of the youngest beneficiaries of the land reform programme.
“I started in 2002 with 20 hectares of maize, 50 for wheat and have expanded this to 1 000 hectares,” he said.
Mr Mutasa has scooped the best FYFCZ farmer award for four consecutive years. He believes parents should nurture their children to be farmers.
He is now mentoring his 23-year-old nephew to be a farmer and paying US$46 000 in fees for her sister studying in the United States.
Seed Co group head of agronomy, Africa, Mrs Wendy Madzura, added her voice, saying farming was not a stroll in the park and needed committed people.
“I started farming on three hectares, increased to five, 15ha and then 40ha in the 2023/24 El Niño-ravaged season, so I did not harvest anything.
“I, however, persevered and did 30ha of maize and 15ha of sorghum last season and I am smiling all the way to the bank,” she said.
FYFCZ 2024 best cereal and tobacco farmer and top female farmer of the year, Krystal Zvisineyi Chindori-Chininga, shared her experiences, too.
“My first time on the farm was when I was around eight years old and had a fond interest in cattle and knew that one day I was surely going into farming to help my country.
“I followed that vision by enrolling for a Bachelor’s Degree in International Agriculture and Rural Development and the subsequent Master’s Degree at Cornell University in the US, which allowed me to work in any part of the globe, as I wished,” she said.
Krystal has worked in South Africa, Malawi, Ghana, Tanzania and Indonesia, to name just a few countries, on a consultancy basis. Tired of imparting knowledge to other people, she came back home to actualise her knowledge and do some serious farming.
“I came back in 2019 and worked with different partners on the farm in different departments and then slowly took over management of some of the projects, for instance, cropping and marketing of commodities,” explained Krystal.
As a youth, Krystal’s role models were members of FYFCZ, who introduced her to many new farmers from whom she drew inspiration.
She started her journey on five hectares of maize and grew all the way to 80 hectares in the 2024/25 season. In the 2024 winter season, she had 30 hectares of wheat and 120 hectares of tobacco under crops in the 2024/25 season.
