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Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa inspects maize at ARDA Ingwizi Estate last Thursday

Prosper Ndlovu/Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Business Reporters
THE Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) is working on expanding the area under maize at its Antelope and Ingwizi estates to 2 000 hectares by year-end.

This will see the two estates producing about 10 000 tonnes of the crop each, ARDA board chair Mr Basil Nyabadza said.

The estates are among the most successful projects by ARDA under its partnership with Trek, a private company, which is aimed at revitalising the agricultural sector.

Mr Nyabadza told a delegation led by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa during a tour of the two estates last Thursday that Matabeleland South, which has been hit by droughts in the past years, could achieve food security through intensive agricultural production at the two estates and revitalisation of other irrigation schemes.

He said ARDA Antelope in Maphisa, Matobo District, a pioneer project under the partnership, has 500ha under maize, which would be increased to 750ha in the coming winter cropping and 1 000ha in the next rain-fed season.

Similarly, ARDA Ingwizi is at 600ha with plans to increase to 850ha this winter and 1 000ha by year-end.

“Our dams are full and we plan to expand the hectarage so as to increase output,” said Mr Nyabadza.

VP Mnangagwa, who said he was impressed by the level of production at the two farms after conducting a tour, said expanded capacity would produce 20 000mt, which would contribute immensely to food security in the province.

“Come the next summer cropping season Antelope and Ingwizi will produce 10 000mt each. This means everything will be done here and people from Bulawayo will come and get produce here. With such a big business, it will also be easy to fix the road network. When this is done Zimbabwe will bid goodbye to hunger. So, this is what we want, to achieve self sufficiency using local resources,” said the VP.

Mr Nyabadza said the maize crop at the estates was performing well despite reports of the fall army worm, which had since been contained.

He said ARDA recently introduced a cattle breeding project at the Ingwizi Estate, which has a total of 755 beasts. Mr Nyabadza said with time new silos and a milling plant would be set up at Ingwizi. Silos have been built at Antelope while plans to set up a milling plant were underway.

VP Mnangagwa challenged farmers across provinces to work hard and fully utilise the land they received under the fast-track land redistribution programme for the benefit of the economy.

He said the Government will be closely monitoring each province to ensure it contributed towards the nation’s economic growth.

VP Mnangagwa said if all things go well Zimbabwe should regain its status as the bread basket of southern Africa within the next three years.

“Provinces will be going into competition on how much agricultural produce they can generate. We expect each province to be able to sustain itself without any external intervention. This is to say each province should manage to feed its people.

“This is the message that we expect MPs to spread. First identify what crops perform well in your area and thereafter work on them. The Government will assist where necessary but each province will be expected to contribute significantly to the nation’s GDP,” he said.