To those who know them, they are young men that have a penchant of living in the fast lane. At such an age, they are owners of top-of-the-range vehicles from the latest Range Rovers to the newest Toyota Revos.

Some have cooked up theories in a bid to establish their source of income and, of course, some ruling out that the two are ritualists while others are of the view that they have relatives in the diaspora.

This is the story of Marondera’s two successful young farmers, Andrew Gore (37) and Tapiwa Masaiti (29), whose hard work in the fields has paid off.

Standard Style last week toured some farms in which the two are operating and came across vast lands with beautiful crops.

But to Gore, the success didn’t come easily.

“I used to supply farm chemicals to farmers until one day a certain farmer paid me US$20 000 in one transaction. I asked myself: If this farmer is paying me such money, how much is left with him? I then decided to try what he was doing,” he said.

The outspoken farmer then started off with tobacco production on a small piece of land.

“I did tobacco in the Masomera area on a half hectare piece of land and did well. I then increased to five hectares before I started out renting land as I increased hectarage. “Currently I have tobacco on 75ha among other crops. My dream is to do tobacco on a 100ha piece of land, I will achieve that. I have been working in harmony with my colleague Tapiwa (Masaiti) who is now doing well at their family farm,” narrated Gore.

The farmer is expecting 2 000 bales of tobbacco from the 75ha he planted and 300 bags of maize from the 30ha at the same time already planting wheat on a 60ha piece of land. So far, the youthful farmer’s tobacco has been fetching an average price of US$5 at the floors.

But Masaiti, who works with his father Stanley at Mhembwe Farm, is not to be outdone.

This season, father and son have planted 180ha of tobacco expecting thousands of bales at the end of the season. At Mhembwe Farm, Masaiti is set to plant 330ha of wheat and 60ha of soya beans under the command agriculture scheme. The youthful musician also has 60ha of sugar beans.

“When we started massive tobacco farming, we faced a lot of challenges among them securing loans from banks. Because of our age, financial institutions had no trust in us, but we pushed on until a local bank came to our rescue. Today, we are their top clients,” he said.

Masaiti hailed government’s support in farming especially the Command Agriculture programme, but said it is high time the authorities allocate land to the youths who are capable of maximum production.

“We are happy that government has programmes such as command agriculture, where farmers are supported with inputs which is a noble idea. However, we need land as youths, we have been on the waiting list for a long time and it is high time that we have some allocated to us. Currently, we are renting land, it is expensive. The money being paid in rentals is equivalent to buying two new tractors,” said Masaiti.

The two farmers employ more than 700 workers.

“I thrive in ensuring that our workers are happy. We pay them on time. Some of our workers come from Marondera town and we are happy for creating employment among them. We also have a football team to support local talent. The team will be playing in the Division 2 tier this season,” said Gore.

Though living lavish and comfortable lives, the two farmers are happy to enjoy the fruits of their hard work. To ensure maximum productivity, Masaiti studied Agriculture at the highly rated Blackforby College near Nyabira.

“It is possible to have US$1 million in your bank account through tobacco farming, one has to be focused,” concluded Gore.