Arda pledges to support community with small grains seed

The Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) has pledged to support the Marange community with small grains seed to complement efforts being made by the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church in enhancing agricultural activities through various projects.

The church’s leader, High Priest Noah Taguta, has been undertaking massive maize, poultry, dairy, cattle ranching and fish farming activities at his homestead in Marange and at his farm in Chipinge under his company, Taguta Investments.

Speaking during a tour of High Priest Taguta’s homestead on Wednesday, ARDA board chairman Mr Basil Nyabadza said they wanted to support the church with seeds to venture into small grains production on a large scale to help improve productivity in the community.

“We are seeing development at village level and a very strong church leadership which is helping to boost the agriculture sector.

“We saw a poultry project which is thriving, fishery, dairy farming and other projects which can generate national economic growth.

“Leadership through the church is critical to development here and as Arda, we will direct our distribution of seeds, especially small grains like sugar beans, sorghum, groundnuts and sunflower to help in increasing production in the whole district ,” said Mr Nyabadza.

He said Arda would also look into establishing a milling facility and bakery in the long run to encourage value addition and empowering of people in the community with jobs.

Speaking after the tour, High Priest Taguta said he was keen to expand his agriculture projects to contribute more towards national economic growth.

“My family is committed to expanding our agriculture projects to empower the community in line with the Vision 2030. I embarked on agriculture activities in 1984 and poultry has been the major project which is generating the most income. We have 30 000 layers which produce 700 crates of eggs daily.

“However, our biggest challenge is poor marketing. We wish to penetrate the local market more and eventually start exporting some of our products, which will ultimately generate more revenue for the national economy,” he said.

Taguta Investments poultry technical specialist Mr Lazarus Makomo said expanding the company’s poultry project would also include exploring opportunities for inclusive value chain development in the rural areas.

“We want to gear up for further growth as we are targeting inclusive value chain development.

“We also want to unlock the full potential of our poultry project to contribute meaningfully to the national economy,” said Mr Makomo.

The company’s dairy farm currently has 20 heifers which are producing over 200 litres of milk daily, which they are seeking to grow.