Minister Mutsvangwa
Obert Chifamba Manicaland Bureau
A SOUTH KOREAN company, Jodrell Trading, which is registered as FarmGreen (Private) Limited, is set to construct a $70 million liquid-organic fertiliser manufacturing plant in Mutare.
This came out during a meeting held in Mutare yesterday between Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs Monica Mutsvangwa and a delegation from FarmGreen (Private) Limited. Mutare City Council has since pledged to supply land for the project, which needs at least 5 000 square metres.
“We have a 100-hectare farm that we are currently leasing to small-scale farmers that are not even managing to pay their rentals, so the project can make use of part of that land if the investors are willing,” town clerk Mr Joshua Maligwa told the meeting. The meeting was attended by Government officials, representatives of local authorities, farmers’ organisations and members of the Manicaland business community.
FarmGreen managing director Mr Dong Hyeon Kim said they were seeking Government clearance to establish a microbial factory and fertiliser depot in Mutare, which will be the biggest in the country, as they would want to capitalise on the city’s closeness to the port of Beira for importing and exporting products to be used and produced at the plant.
“The project will create in excess of 200 jobs across the country, as we target to have plants in at least eight provinces across the country. FarmGreen targets to provide farmers with the finest quality of both liquid bio-organic fertilisers and pesticides in the most efficient time and space. We also want to provide community support for sustainable farming practices that allow farmers to operate and grow at a profitable rate through sound economic decisions,” he said.
The fertiliser is packaged in powdered form and is dissolved in 1 000 litres of water before application in the fields. A pack of the organic fertiliser costs $60, which makes it cheaper to use relative to chemical fertilisers. A hectare requires three packs of the powdered fertiliser for grain crops, while six are required for horticultural crops. Experts say this makes it cheaper than chemical fertilisers.
An agronomist Mr Moses Mtetwa said research has shown that yields can increase by more than 20 percent where organic fertilisers are used. The fertiliser can either be applied using knapsack sprayers for smallholder farmers or centre pivots for commercial farmers. Minister Mutsvangwa challenged people in Manicaland to take the programme seriously and urged the implementers to include irrigation schemes in their plans.
“Let’s not waste time, but hit the ground running. We must work closely with the investors and where you can include irrigation schemes and even communal farmers along roads, please do so,” she said.