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The quest for food security: New farmers disappoint

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The quest for food security: New farmers disappoint

…Govt pumps more and more
money into food imports
Beatific Gumbwanda
CHIREDZI – Government has challenged indigenous
farmers to embrace latest farming technologies in order to produce enough food
for the nation and fight the effects of climate change on the country’s
agricultural sector.
The country is spending tens
of millions of dollars yearly importing such basics as wheat, maize and soya
beans yet the country has vast tracts of prime agricultural land that new
farmers who benefitted from the land reform programme cannot fully utilise.
Addressing sugarcane farmers
at Incorruptible Sappers Farm in Hippo Valley last week, Vangelis Haritatos, who
is the deputy minister of Lands, Agriculture, Climate, Water and Rural
Resettlement, challenged farmers to work harder to feed the nation.
“There is no question
that the agricultural sector is the most significant prime-mover of Zimbabwe’s vision
2030. Agriculture is a major source of livelihood for over 67 percent of the
population,” said Haritatos.
Vision 2030 is the
government’s ambitions target to make Zimbabwe a middle income economy by year
2030.
Haritatos said the country
was lagging behind in terms of food security despite the abundance of farmland
and water resources as well as a favorable climate.
“It is quite ironic
that with abundant land, water resources and favorable climatic conditions
suitable for the growth of up to 23 crop and livestock varieties, Zimbabwe remains
food insecure and spends substantial amounts of foreign currency each year on
imports of food and other essential commodities. Large sections of the
community languish in poverty, hunger and malnutrition,” said Haritatos.
He said farmers should
participate in the upliftment of Zimbabweans by producing enough food for the
nation.
“The solution and most
direct way of dealing with this crisis is by increasing agricultural production
and productivity in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly manner,” he
said.
Incorruptible Sappers
is owned by sugarcane farmer Faster Gono, a war veteran who was recently
recognised for being one of the most productive indigenous farmers in the
Lowveld.

Gono leads sugar industry, says Agriculture minister

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Gono leads sugar industry, says Agriculture minister

                                  Faster Gono




Beatific Gumbwanda
CHIREDZI – Lands, Agriculture,
Climate, Water and Rural Resettlement deputy minister Vangelis Haritatos has
praised Rtd Maj Faster Gono as an exemplary sugarcane farmer from whom other
indigenous small-scale farmers ought to learn.
Speaking at a field day held
at Incorruptible Faster Farm 17 in Hippo Valley, Haritatos said local farmers
could play a greater role in the national economy if they became as productive
as Gono.
The farm is owned by Gono, a
war veteran and former military officer.
“We are gathered here
to witness a success story of a farmer who only started cane farming in 2007
and has achieved so much. While other resettled farmers here are producing an
average 47 tons per hectare, Cde Gono is producing 114 tons per hectare while Tongaat
Hulett Zimbabwe leads him slightly with an average 115 tons per hectare. 
“As a result, he is
acknowledged by the local community as an outstanding, if not the leading small
scale sugarcane farmer here,” said Haritatos.
He said Gono’s achievements
were a result of hard work and discipline which had seen him investing his
earnings back into the farm for greater productivity.
“The agronomist has
advised us here that this farm is run professionally in terms of management
practices, something that is clear even to me. Good agricultural practices such
as use of appropriate sugarcane varieties, irrigation water management and effective
weed management are also practiced,” said Haritatos.
Representatives from Tongaat
Hulett Zimbabwe also praised Gono as a cut above the rest of the new farmers
doing business in Chiredzi, saying Gono was consistently delivering at least
100 tons of cane per hectare every year.
Also present was Defence and
War Veterans deputy minister, Victor Matemadanda who challenged other farmers
to take their work seriously and contribute more to the economy.
“Some fields look
abandoned due to poor performance and it looks like the owners are in the diaspora.
Those who are wise should learn how it is being done from the likes of Gono
rather than stay behind,” said Matemadanda.
Gono’s farm employs 14
people who receive between $200 and $600 in salaries, all of them registered
with the pension scheme NSSA and with the Hippo Valley Medical Scheme and Nyaradzo
Funeral Services.

Of tropical cyclones, trail of destruction in South East Zimbabwe

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Of tropical cyclones, trail of destruction in South East Zimbabwe


Stephen
Ephraem in Chipinge

Scenes
of family vehicles that are over-turned in residential areas, public transport
stuck on roadsides, panoramic view of house submerged in water, bridges that
are torn apart, people injured or the dead being lifted on makeshift stretcher-beds
suits a Hollywood film script.
The
scenes described are representative of the current situation in Chimanimani and
Chipinge districts after a tropical cyclone named Idai hit the southeastern
region of Zimbabwe that also includes Chiredzi.
The
region is not new to tropical rains, with Cyclone Eline hitting hard at the
turn of the millennium back in year 2 000. The strong twister left a trail of
damage to infrastructure and loss of life in Chimanimani, Chipinge and Chiredzi
districts.
The
2000 trail destroyed Changazi Bridge built on Changazi River that borders
Chimanimani and Chipinge districts about 3km from Birchenough Bridge towards
Mutare. Other bridges in Chipinge like Matembudze and Nyautsa that are along
Tanganda-Ngundu highway were also hit hard.
Other
pieces of infrastructure destroyed by tropical cyclone Eline included Chipinda
Bridge built on Runde River just outside Gonarezhou National Park adjacent to
Chipinda Pools in Chiredzi. Chipinda Bridge remains dilapidated up to this day
although others were later repaired.
Cyclone
Eline was responsible for the destruction of world class Mahenye Safari Lodge that
was built inside Save River at Mahenye in Chipinge and was owned by the then Zimbabwe
Sun Limited.
On
the humanitarian side, Cyclone Eline seriously affected people in low-lying such
areas of Chipinge as Tongogara Refugee Camp. The camp is situated closer to
Zimbabwe’s largest inland waterway, Save River. The Vheneka area received a
dose of the floods since water from Save River flooded the rural settlement. At
Chinyamukwakwa, water from Musvazvi River affected homesteads but government’s civil
protection arrangements made it possible to airlift to safety the affected
souls.
In
total, Cyclone Eline is on record to have killed at least 136 people damaged 59
184 houses in Zimbabwe.
As
the country was still nursing wounds inflicted by Cyclone Eline, another storm
named Cyclone Japhet hit the area in March 2003. Although Cyclone Japhet left a
trail of destruction mostly in the Zambezi basin area of Muzarabani, it went as
far as Gutu in Masvingo in the south and southeastern part of the country. This
prompted the late Masvingo-born musician Paul Matavire to pen a song named
Cyclone Japhet in that same year relating the ghastly effects of that tropical
storm. In total, Cyclone Japhet killed about seven people in the country.
In
2017, another tropical storm named Dineo took place in February 2017 and
affected the two Matebeleland provinces of Zimbabwe. People assessed Cyclone
Dineo with mixed feeling as some claimed that it actually boosted the water
bodies in the area since the region was already experiencing a drought. In the
south-eastern region, it did not leave a record trail of destruction and no
human life was lost.

Wife leaves husband, runs away with boyfriend twice

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Wife leaves husband, runs away with boyfriend twice

                                                                     Never Mahachi

Precila Takabvirakare
MPANDAWANA – A
43-year-old woman from Mpandawana village under Chief Gutu ran away from her
husband and eloped with a man she has been cheating with for some time, it has
emerged.
Tevedzerai
Ziona took her 12-year-old daughter with her, after months of complaining that
her husband Never Mahachi was not doing enough to take care of the family.
Sources
said the signs had been there for a long time, with Ziona being needlessly rude
to her husband.
“She
first ran away in December last year and Never was told that his wife was now
staying with her newfound love in Marondera. He tried calling her to ask her to
bring back the child but she ignored his calls. It took her sister to convince
her to come back home on 16 March.
“Her
boyfriend, however, followed her on 20 March and convinced her yet again to go
with him and she complied. Never was away at work so they the boyfriend took
her away and they are back together in Marondera,” said the source
Mahachi
confirmed the incident and said he was disappointed she had chosen to leave
home yet again.
“I
am very upset. If she no longer loved me, she was supposed to go alone and
leave the child behind. I don’t want my child to grow up in another man’s house
so I am planning to sue them,” said Mahachi.

Kulunga Plus: Hybrid onion farming

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Kulunga Plus: Hybrid onion farming

After a long break, I am now back
with another newly-produced onion hybrid which has hit the market with a strong
surprise. This is a tried and tested Zimbabwean hybrid from a Zimbabwean seed
breeder company called AVANOS.
KALUNGA PLUS is a short-season
variety by which farmers can maximize profits in a short period of time if
properly managed. It grows best when planted in summer and high growth period
in autumn. That is good sowing period is mid-March to May.
More importantly, land
preparation should be done in time and perfectly. This hybrid like any other
onions does very well in well drained, sandy or sandy-loamy soils. We recommend
farmers to plant the onions in straight lines for easy irrigation systems.
Fertilizer
application
Farmers should use correct
fertilizers and correct application rates. For good farming practice we advise
to first have soil tests to give us quantities of fertilizers to apply.
We really recommend farmers to
use Superfert compound C fertilizer at a ratio of 1000kg or veg –blend per
hectare before transplanting.  Add 180kg
of Superfert ammonium nitrate for top dressing. 
Onion is a short rooted plant, therefore fertilizers MUST be placed to
the reach of the roots. This applies to all basal fertilizers applied into the
soil before transplanting.
When applying ammonium nitrate, it
must be done in 3 or 4 phases starting from when the plants gets into active
growth at about  three weeks intervals
until the necks start going soft.  It is
very important to apply ammonium nitrate when temperatures are warm and KALUNGA
PLUS grows well than in low temperatures. We may also encourage farmers to use
organic manure together with chemical fertilizers.
NOTE: constant moisture should be
maintained. In hot areas irrigate after every 3 to 6 days.
To have a good quality of KALUNGA
PLUS spacing is also very crucial. We encourage in-row spacing of between 7 to
10cm and inter-row 15cm.  This gives us a
plant population of 650 000 to 800 000 per hectare. However, we can use 4 to
5kg per hectare.
Harvesting
KALUNGA PLUS matures between 90
to 110 days and the bulb size ranges from 85 to 120g. The potential yield must
be 35 to 65 tonnes per hectare. 
We should stop applying
nitrogenous fertilizers four weeks before harvesting. Reduce watering when
plants show signs of foliage and discontinue completely when almost 50 percent
of the plants are down and top part dry. When they are 80 percent top down,
then the bulbs are mature and ready for harvest.
After harvesting, make sure you
cure the onion either in the field or storage room if properly ventilated.
When in the field, cover the
bulbs with their foliage or a thin layer of grass to avoid direct sunlight.
KALUNGA PLUS, if properly cured, has a shelf life of between 5 and 6 months.
This is a good advantage to farmers.
Unlike any other onions KALUNGA
PLUS is resistant to mildew and less vulnerable to some diseases because of its
short life span.  So i encourage farmers
to go for this hybrid because it reduces extra costs for chemicals. 
In the event of disease and pest
infections use the chemicals which we talked about in the last chapter on
ILANGA PLUS.
Our markets also remain the same
but we as farmers, always consult for prices because they are changing with
demands.
Compiled by Vengai Defu
Farm & City Masvingo branch
manager 
Masvingo branch
For
further advices and information contact me on 263-039 2264246/
263777429362/263772137202 or sales team on 263-039 2264246/263773208930

MDC member arrested for assault moments after release from prison

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MDC member arrested for assault moments after release from prison

                                                       Felix Mashavele

Cephas Shava
MWENEZI – Felix
Mashavele (32) of Ranganai village under Chief Neshuro was on Thursday released
from jail after serving his prison sentence but was arrested moments later for
assaulting his elderly mother in-law.
Mashavele
was last year jailed for an effective six months after being convicted on two
counts of arson committed against his in-laws following a dispute.
He
was released on March 28 after completing his sentence.
Mashavele
then went to his village and allegedly assaulted his mother in-law and a report
was made to the police leading to his arrest. 
He appeared before magistrate Mandlenkosi Ndlovu on Monday where he
pleaded guilty to two counts of assault.
For
the two counts of assault magistrate Ndlovu sentenced Mashavele to a month in
prison or to pay a fine of $100. In addition to that, a four-month prison sentence
was temporarily suspended on condition that he will not commit a similar
offence in the next five years.
The
State’s Caroline Pasipanodya convinced the court that on March 28, 2019 around
20:00hrs, Mashavele approached her 70-year-old mother-in-law Muhlava Kuruma (70),
grabbed her walking stick and used it to beat her all over her head.
He
also used the stick to assault one Tendai Shoko for no apparent reason and was
only restrained by one John Kuruma.
A
police report was made leading to Mashavele’s arrest. The two complainants were
not medically examined.
During
last year’s harmonised elections, Mashavele contested to be councillor for Ward
7 but he lost to Killion Murabharari of Zanu PF.

Abusive step-mother badly beats minor, orders another to take blame

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Abusive step-mother badly beats minor, orders another to take blame

Monalisa Matongo
A Masvingo woman
recently appeared in court for allegedly assaulting and physically abusing her
seven year old step son.
Linet Tendai
Sibanda (44) who resides at 16240 Lazarus Tsvairai Street in Runyararo is being
charged in line with section 7(1) of the Children’s Act chapter 5:06, ‘Physical
Abuse’.
It is the State
case that on the February 27, the accused allegedly assaulted the minor Junior
Shearing with a switch and a plastic whip several times on the back which led
to the serious injury of the minor.
The reason for
the assault is that the minor was spending time playing with other children.
After being late
for school at St Francis Aphiri Primary, on February 28, the minor’s teacher Kangamiro
Marevese noticed that the child was not feeling well and later on found out
that he had been badly assaulted .
Marevese went
with the minor to the police station where the matter was conveyed and later on
was handed to the magistrate court.
During
investigations, a grade seven brother to the complainant defended the suspect
saying it was him and not their step-mother who assaulted the minor.
It is, however,
being suspected that Sibanda could have coached the elder brother to lie on her
behalf so that she could be set free.

Bedwetting woman confesses witchcraft to husband

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Brighton Chiseva
ZAKA – A young woman from
Mukachana village under Chief Nhema in Zaka confessed to her husband that she
practiced with craft after he had quizzed on her bed-wetting habits.
Getrude Jaricha,
who is married to Nick Mushayavanhu of Mushayavanhu village, also implicated her
grandmother and her other identified colleagues in her witchcraft practice.
Mukachana
village head, Alex Moledge confirmed the incident and said he referred the
matter to Chief Ndanga who later referred them to Zinatha provincial offices at
Kyle House in Masvingo.
“The matter was
reported to my court. She confessed that she was a witch and that her
grandmother, alongside other four women from the same village, often came to take
her on their nocturnal witchcraft expeditions,” said Moledge.
He said Jaricha,
who is five months pregnant, would wet the bed every night but would not move
even if her husband tried to wake her up.
“She told her
husband that her grandmother comes with other ladies from the village and off
they would go to graveyards and where she would open graves using a whip.
“When I summoned
them to my court she said the same. She accused her grandmother of initiating
her into witchcraft when she was still a young girl. She said on the day of her
initiation, her grandmother asked her not to sleep in the room in which she
often slept with other girls, but to rather come and sleep in the same room
with her.
“In the dead of
the night, the old lady asked her to take a potion that she claimed would make
her wiser. She was given a baby whom she was asked to carry on her back upside
down, and she said she breastfeeds the baby as her own even though she hasn’t
given birth as yet,” said Moledge.

MSU student qualifies the Mandela Washington fellowship

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MSU student qualifies the Mandela Washington fellowship

Anesushe
Mamhute
GWERU
–
Chiredzi born and Midlands State University (MSU) media student, Passmore Ndlovu
has been selected to be among 42 Zimbabweans joining other young Africans for
the 2019 Mandela Washington Fellowship in the United States of America (USA)
for six weeks.
The Mandela Washington
Fellowship empowers outstanding youthful leaders to be in a better position to
make a difference in their communities. The fellowship creates a platform for
them to sharpen leadership skills and network with other youth leaders from
sub-Saharan Africa and USA.
Ndlovu is running
communication projects found on various social media outlets including YouTube
and radio podcasts ‘The Update’ and ‘Swa vutomi’.
He also has a programme
called ‘Lowveld Today’ which is a
series of documentaries that focus on communities in the Lowveld.
YALI was initiated by
former US president Barrack Obama in 2014 and is the flagship for the Young
African Leaders Initiative (YALI) which began 2010. Submissions to participate
in the programme are done online and the selection is done in the USA. Semi-finalists
are notified and interviewed at the United States’ embassies in different
countries.
Ndlovu said he was
honored for the opportunity to develop his skills and passion within a big
network of like-minded people.
 “I feel contented and thankful to those who
support my work. Being among 42 Zimbabweans to visit USA on this fellowship is
a great honor to me. We are 700 across Africa and I will utilise the
opportunity to increase my experience in the field of media studies,” said
Ndlovu.
Ndlovu will arrive in
USA on June 19 for a leadership track is Civic Engagement at Indiana University.
He will also travel to Washington Dc for a concluding three day summit with all
the fellows.
During the summit, he
will have the opportunity to interact with US leaders in the field of business,
governance and the non-profit sector.

ID, passport delays to persist as resource shortages bite

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ID, passport delays to persist as resource shortages bite

                                                           Clemence Masango
                                       

…special
measures for Cyclone Idai victims
Shingirai Vambe
HARARE – Registrar
General Clemence Masango has said resources needed to print identity cards and
passports were in short supply, leading to the issuance of paper identity
documents and long delays in processing standard passport applications.
Government
phased out the paper identity document around 2005 after introducing the
instant plastic ID card which is made up of polythene and synthetic material.
Prior
to that, the paper ID was a temporary document that an applicant would use
while waiting for the permanent metallic card which took several months to come
out.
TellZim
News secured an interview with Masango to get clarification on the long queues
for IDs and passports as well as to understand why passports that are normally
processed in six weeks are now taking several months.
“Yes
there are long queues at our offices countrywide. People need IDs but resources
are a challenge. The consumables require foreign currency to import yet our
services are charged in local currency. Our personnel are doing all they can to
give optimum services to citizens,” said Masango.
He
said it was the same case with passport paper which has to be imported into the
country using foreign currency which is scarce.
The
ordinary passport, which costs $53, normally gets processed in six weeks but it
is now taking up to seven months and more. Some people who spoke to TellZim News
said they applied for passports in June last year but were still waiting.
At
$53 and coming out in few days, the emergency passport is too expensive for
most citizens.
On
plans to decentralise passport applications to the district, Masango said it
was government’s goal to increase convenience but resources were not
permitting.
“We
want people to apply for passports at district level but that move requires a
lot of money and equipment; all the cameras, computers and office space,” said
Masango.
He
said he was, however, pleased that his department had put in place plans like
satellite offices to assist survivors of Cyclone Idai to get new copies of
their lost identity documents.
“We
are there to assist people get burial orders for their deceased loved ones as
quickly as possible. Those that have lost their identity particulars will also
get them without delay because we have instructed teams in Chimanimani and
Chipinge to be ready for real work.
“Our
office has all the information regarding everyone in Zimbabwe so people must
not worry. We have details on everyone in the main server,” he said

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