A Gweru farmer, Mr Gilbert Makore, who attracted interest after a Twitter post on April 28 last year showing over 200 000 Irati onion plants at his farm, has produced nearly one million plants to date.

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

Mr Makore has since last year been experimenting on winter and summer onion varieties in a bid to contribute to the local market to help reduce imports from South Africa, which are 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.

In an interview yesterday, Mr Makore said he has managed to add more staff accommodation and a greenhouse.

“There is high return in land and it’s all about dedication. Using proceeds from the land from the last time we had an interview, I have managed to build five more staff accommodation quarters and a green house. We are now in the process of purchasing another tractor,” said Mr Makore.

He has a staff complement of 12 permanent workers that stay at the farm.

Mr Makore is also popular for hiring locals from surrounding farms on temporary basis when there is a need for more workers during planting and harvesting.

He has a drip irrigation and also uses overhead sprinklers at his farm.

“I had to invest in drip irrigation and other sources of irrigation to maximise production so that at the end of the day, I have money to pay my workers from the farm produce and not from my pocket. Proper farming needs a hands-on approach, and not cellphone farming. That is why I am personally involved together with my farm manager,” he said.

Mr Makore is into mixed farming and has crops all year round under irrigation and dry land. He grows tomatoes, onions, maize and butternuts on his 170-hectare farm.

He has placed 50ha under horticulture.

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

There is also a hatchery at his farm, although he has reduced the number of beef cattle from 90 to about 50 because he wants to venture into dairy farming. There are currently 10 dairy cows.

He has more than 100 goats and has discontinued sheep farming to concentrate on goats.

He lauded Command Agriculture for helping him make his farm productive.

“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 and winter wheat. But this time because of power shortages in our area, I did not do winter wheat. Agriculture is capital-intensive, it needs farming inputs. I support it fully because I get all the things I need for my farming business,” said Mr Makore.

He welcomed the easing of the lockdown to Level 2, saying movement of people comes with the need to eat and that means a rise in demand for fresh produce, which he is optimistic they can meet.

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