Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
A Gweru farmer, Mr Gilbert Makore, has attracted interest after a Twitter post on April 28 showing more than 200 000 onions called Irati at his farm.

Irati is a high-yielding, short-season variety which is grown in winter. The crop is ready for the market.

With a hands-on approach, Mr Makore has embraced Command Agriculture at his Vashee Farm in Harben Park about 14km from the Gweru city centre.

Experiments on a summer onion variety that can be harvested in December are ongoing at the farm. Success would help minimise onion imports from South Africa, usually high in January and February.

A former soldier who retired in 1998, Mr Makore started staying at the farm in 2003 and began serious farming in 2009.

He is into mixed farming and has crops all year round under irrigation and dryland. He grows tomatoes, onions, wheat, maize, and butternuts under 20 hectares on his 170ha property.

Chronicle yesterday tracked him down to his farm where he unveiled a mixed agriculture success story that showed the onions were just a tip of what Mr Makore is making money from.

He was busy, hands-on, tending to his crops together with his 13 employees.

Agriculture experts from Charter Seeds/ Starke Ayres and SM Luyando Irrigation Company, which assisted him in coming up with irrigation systems, a greenhouse and seedlings were also at the farm.

“Farming needs a hands-on approach. I have a farm manager but I am also there overseeing how everything is done because we want maximum returns,” said Mr Makore, dressed in black gumboots and a blue dustcoat.

Besides crops, he has livestock such as cattle, sheep, goats and first-generation road runners.

Mr Makore shows off a head of a cabbage and the onions in the background at the farm

There is also a hatchery at the farm.

“Now we are doing a lot of crops but we are mainly based on onions, tomatoes and cabbage. We have drip and overhead irrigation and we have 13 employees. I rely solely on agriculture for a living and I can say it’s paying well since every month I have to pay the employees and other utilities and have some money for other things,” he said.

Mr Makore, a father of four children said after retiring from the army, he joined the great trek to the UK and retraced his way back home after four years to utilise his land.

“I have a herd of 98 beef cattle, 60 goats and sheep. We have a hatchery as well,” he said.

He said he benefits tremendously from Command Agriculture. “The Command Agriculture programme was designed to solve a fundamental problem facing our country in the aftermath of the land reform, that of mobilising sustainable and affordable funding for our agriculture to ensure food security, eliminate imports of food, increase exports from this sector and reduce poverty.

“Since the inception of Command Agriculture, I have benefited. I have done maize, winter wheat since the inception of the programme. Agriculture is capital-intensive, it needs farming inputs such as fertilizers and Command Agriculture comes into give me the inputs. Where Command Agriculture is concerned, I am ready for the programme and I support it fully because I get all the things I need for my farming business,” said Mr Makore.

“All we did was to prepare our land and irrigate and we are given fertilizer, seed and chemicals from Command Agriculture.”

Turning to his onion which is looking good, he said each year he is increasing the hectarage for the crop.

“This onion is quite unique. Last year we had about an acre and we realised that it was a good crop which has high returns. We planned with Charter Seeds to get this seed which was in short supply this year. We got 5 000 seedlings and the crop is doing well. Also considering that every year the country imports onion from South Africa and other countries, I’m planning to put more under irrigation and in summer,” said Mr Makore.

He said he was working with the seed supplier for a summer crop that matures in December into January so that there is constant supply of onions in the province and country at large.

Mr Makore said he is working on having driers at his farm so that he is able to take the product from the field and to the market without losing value.

“In time, I want to have driers and take the onion farming business full time. I have four boreholes but the problem has been the recurrent droughts during the last two seasons and so water levels are going down. I have four children and they support me,” said Mr Makore.

Ms Ropafadzo Lunga, a sales representative at Charter Seeds/ Starke Ayres said they are working well with Mr Makore supplying him with seedlings, farming techniques as well as doing market research for crops which will be on high demand.

“We have been working with Mr Makore supplying him with seedlings, taking statistics and researching on what the market wants so that he makes a profit,” she said.

Irati, Ms Lunga said has proved to be a market shaker as it matures within two and half months from the date of transplanting.

“It is a short-day onion variety which is grown in winter and has done well at this farm. We expect the farmer to record maximum returns an indication that farming pays if taken seriously,” she said.

Ms Lunga said they also have other onion varieties such as Bulb which she said are equally good.

She said an onion which has the same size throughout the field gives the farmer maximum returns.

“Other characteristics are excellent disease resistance and we encourage farmers in the Midlands province to consider this variety. We also have Muzori that has a long shell life, just as good as Irati but has a firmer bulb. We are expecting wonders from this farm. We also have another onion variety on trial at this farm. It’s still to be named after we get samples and results to see if it will do well across the country,” said Ms Lunga.

“We are working on summer onion varieties so that farmers like Mr Makore can plant onion in August. We also have a variety called onion Festive and if it’s planted in August it can be harvested in December. This is because it has been observed that in Zimbabwe every December to January there is a shortage of onions which has resulted in onions being imported from South Africa, so we have seen it as an opportunity to come up with summer onions such as Festive and Goblin which can do well.”

Mr Simon Masocha, director SM Luyando Irrigation Company said they are working well with Vashee Farm providing irrigation and farming techniques.

“SM Luyando Irrigation Company is based in Gweru. It’s a company made up of the youths and we specialise in drip irrigation and greenhouse construction and seedlings. At Vashee Farm, we are supplying treated seedlings which mature in time. We are also in the business of teaching youths to come up with viable irrigation projects because agriculture pays,” he said.