By Beatific Gumbwanda
TRIANGLE – The late former Police Assistant Commissioner and Zimbabwe Sugarcane Development Association’s (ZSDA) Chairman, Edmore Veterai’s legacy will forever be written in the sugarcane outgrowers farming history through his immense contributions in connecting Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) with sugarcane farmers through the introduction of certificate in sugarcane agriculture, which empowered most farmers with adequate farming knowledge, with one beneficiary, Francis Moyo scooping an award on the just ended Tongaat Hulett farmers awards.
Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe (THZ) recently held sugarcane out grower awards at Triangle Country Club (TCC) where more than 1300 farmers from different mill groups including Triangle Mill Group, Triangle Estate, Hippo Valley Estates Mill Group, Hippo Valley Mill Group and Mkwasine Mill were accorded an equal opportunity to exhibit their farming techniques over the past season.
The awards were branched into six categories namely best female, best youth out grower, best small scale plot, best medium plot and best large plot, where Francis Moyo, who is currently sitting on a 100 hectare sugarcane plot won an award as the Best Large Plot Outgrower Farmer and Samson Sigauke who has 49 hectares being the overall Best Outgrower Of The Year.
Francis Moyo who is the pioneer of the Certificate of Sugarcane Agriculture from Great Zimbabwe University won in the large scale farmers category for Triangle Mill Group with Croco Motors scooping for Hippo Valley Mill group and Stanley Chipfere for Mkwasine Mill Group.
In an interview with Moyo, he said it was not easy to come up with such a result considering he was offered 150 hectares of dry land in 2016 and managed to convert it into irrigable land.
“I am very happy indeed as it was never easy to get where I am today. I was offered 150 ha of dry land where I later applied my knowledge attained from Great Zimbabwe University’s program, not forgetting Professor Munashe Shoko who spearheaded the University program together with the Late Edmore Veterai to come down to Chiredzi.
“I am happy I managed to transform theory into practice hence deserving the award. Agriculture is an art and would want to encourage other farmers to take sugarcane production as a business and to promote a listening ear as soil and plants do communicate,” said Moyo
Moyo had an average yield of 147 tons per hectare in the 2023/24 season and is hoping to pursue a Master of Philosophy in Sugarcane Technology after succeeding in the Certificate of Sugarcane Agriculture, Diploma in Sugarcane Production and Honors Degree in Soil and Plant Science with Great Zimbabwe University.
