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George Maponga Masvingo Bureau
Masvingo has been thrown a food security lifeline, with each of the province’s 26 parliamentary constituencies set to get nearly 100 tonnes of grain realised from the winter maize project in Chiredzi.
More than 2 300 tonnes of grain are expected to be harvested from the burgeoning project touted as a panacea to recurrent food woes that have earned Masvingo a basket case tag.
This will go a long way in feeding more than 700 000 people who are food insecure in Masvingo.
The winter maize project, a shining example of the success of private-public partnerships, is a marriage between Government, Masvingo Development Trust (MDT) and Lowveld sugar producer Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe to grow maize in winter to mitigate effects of droughts.
THZ provided the land, farming expertise and harvesting equipment, while Government and MDT have been providing inputs and other financial needs for the project.
In 2019, nearly 330 hectares was put under winter maize at Triangle Estates and harvesting was delayed to this year owing to a prolonged wet spell. Now harvesting is almost complete and project drivers are upbeat about its future prospects and the long-term quest to end hunger and food security, especially in arid southern provinces of the country.
MDT chair Lovemore Matuke said grain from the project would help reduce hunger in Masvingo. Mr Matuke, who is also the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Deputy Minister, said the maize will go a long way in stemming the tide of hunger in Masvingo.
“Harvesting of the 2019 winter maize crop is now almost complete and we are relieved because it will come in handy in terms of reducing food scarcity across the province,” said Cde Matuke.
“The prolonged wet spell delayed harvesting of the crop which was supposed to have been completed early this year, but we hope that by end of next week all the grain will be at the GMB depot in Chiredzi from where it will be collected to various parts of the province.”
The MDT chair said in light of food shortages affecting Masvingo, they had seen it fit to make sure all the grain is used to feed food-inscure people in the province. “We cannot take this maize to other provinces when we do not have enough for ourselves and we have thus allocated each of the 26 constituencies in the province 90 tonnes from the winter maize yield,” he said.
This, Cde Matuke, said will mitigate the effects of the prevailing food shortages blamed on last year’s drought.
“Going forward, we hope to expand the winter maize project so that we can produce enough to feed at least two provinces in the arid south of the country where traditionally crops fail owing to successive droughts,” he said
Cde Matuke said they have already started scouting for additional land in the Lowveld to expand the hactarage of the winter maize project this year.
He said changing weather patterns owing to climate change accentuated the need for Masvingo to tap into its vast dam density, the highest in the country but hitherto heavily underutilised for irrigation.
The winter maize project is the brainchild of former long-serving Masvingo Governor Cde Josaya Hungwe, who negotiated with Tongaat for land to grow winter maize to ease hunger in the province in the aftermath of the 1992 drought.
The idea has since gained international acclaim with even eminent organisations such as the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), describing it as an excellent model to combat hunger in an increasingly food insecure world.
Online Reporter