Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
THE Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) plans to establish 2,000 hectares of pastures in Matabeleland South province that will be used as grazing land for livestock. Arda board chairman, Basil Nyabadza, said his entity was in the process of identifying land across the province suitable for this purpose.
He said the pastures would be set in places which had reliable water sources. An estimated 16,500 head of cattle have succumbed to starvation due to lack of pastures and water as a result of drought in Masvingo, Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North and Midlands provinces.
Speaking during a visit by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to Arda Ingwizi Estate in Mangwe District on Friday, Nyabadza said Arda was targeting reviving all its 21 estates throughout the country as well as expanding them to maximise production.
“The challenge brought by climate change isn’t only affecting the survival of people but livestock as well. That’s why we’re working on establishing pastures in Matabeleland with help from local authorities because there’s sufficient land for this purpose,” he said.
“The survival of animals is equally important especially in Matabeleland because it’s a livestock region. We’ll develop land where we’ll grow and bail the grass and then we’ll supply farmers at an affordable price. This is all part of our rural development programme and we’ve identified potential investors for this project.”
Nyabadza said once the project was in place, the produce from the pastures would be available to farmers throughout the year.
He said Arda has already planted about 1,300 hectares of maize crop at Arda Antelope and Arda Ingwizi in Matabeleland South province.
Nyabadza, however, said the production process at Ingwizi was being crippled by power cuts.
He reported that efforts were underway to establish milling centres at both estates to ensure that the maize produce was processed locally. This is expected to go a long way in creating employment for locals.
Nyabadza said the rural development authority was committed to ensuring food security hence efforts were being made to ensure water sources throughout the country were fully utilised.
“We’re doing all this in a bid to achieve food security despite climate change. The irrigation land that we developed was lying idle and so are vast areas of land in the country. We’re making efforts to reverse this and that’s why we’re partnering farmers,” he said.
Nyabadza expressed concern over unavailability of seed locally, which forced farmers to limit their scope to just maize, soya beans and wheat.
He appealed to the government to revive local production of seed saying most seed providers were transnational companies.
Nyabadza said Arda Ingwizi Estate, which had 600 hectares of maize crop, had managed to create employment opportunities for over 450 locals.
Trek Petroleum recently injected more than $2.7 million into massive wheat and maize production projects in Matabeleland South in a bid to enhance food security and nutrition in the province.
The projects are already running at Arda Antelope Estate in Maphisa and Arda Ingwizi Estate in Mangwe District.