ZONDI Njovu expertly manoeuvres his battered tractor through a dense overgrowth of weeds and grass, delicately avoiding the concealed hazard of underground electrical cables leading to a wooden pole where a flood light is hanging precariously.

 

On a wintry morning at CAG Fruit and Veggies plot, Njovu seems oblivious of the watchful eye of his manager which is fixated at his most experienced tractor operator, as he goes about his work dutifully.

A consummate professional, he seems undeterred by the nippy weather conditions, driven by his resolve to meet his morning deadline of clearing up a sizeable patch of land in preparation for planting yet another round of cabbages.

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 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT KINTYRE ESTATES

• Kintyre Estates was formerly a leading dairy producer, which used to supply up to 100 000 litres of milk per month

• The operation also included wheat and soya bean producers.

• In 1999 the Kintyre Country Project was launched in order to create a horticultural hub

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“He is a very senior driver, having worked here during the days when this land was still under the Kintyre Estates,” says an evidently impressed Mr Smart Chitengo, who manages the fledgling horticulture plot.

“On this patch of land we plan to plant around 10 000 cabbages in the next few days. Here, cabbages are our central business. We plant a new batch of 10 000 cabbages every two weeks throughout the year under irrigation.

“We are doing quite well as you have seen.” CAG Fruit and Veggies is one of the indigenously-owned plots established in the wake of the dismantling of former dairy farming behemoth – Kintyre Estates – that has taken to intensive horticulture. At one point, Kintyre Estate was a sprawling expanse of open land dedicated to dairy farming.

Today, the area – almost 40 kilometres outside Harare – is almost unrecognisable from its earlier life form.

Kintyre now resembles an agricultural community in its embryonic stage of development, albeit one with vast prospects of future growth.

Small 10-hectare plots are grouped up where a single stretch of open land once stood. And CAG is one of dozens of plots helping to change the face of now defunct colossus. Producing no less 34 000 heads of cabbages a month, which sell at an average price of US25 cents a head, CAG is recording decent business.

Founded in 2008 by local businessman Mr Collin Gura on a single 10-hectare plot, the businessman has nurtured this concern into an established player in the local horticulture industry and is now established on four plots of a similar size. CAG now employs 14 full-time workers.

“When we started, we were mainly onto potato farming but had top switch to cabbages owing to the problem of thieves who ransacked our fields at night,” says Chitengo. Fishmongers who usually conduct their business at Chivero at night would raid our fields under the cover of the night and harvest out our potatoes.

“We suffered heavy losses as a result. We then switched to cabbages and that in a way took care of that problem.”

CAG now supplies an array of markets from Kadoma, Kwekwe, Mbare and Highfield vegetable markets and is making solid returns.

But, now, an increasing number of farmers are being drawn into the business owing to the high return and minimum risk offered by cabbage farming.

This has, in turn, resulted in falling cabbage prices. While three years back a single head could sell for US70 cents, at CAG today a single head can go for as little as US20 cents.

“The entrance of new players into the business has obviously resulted in the flooding of the market and hence prices have been on a free fall for sometime now,” he told The Sunday Mail Business.

“At one point, we employed 25 workers but (we) have had to downsize because of the continued fall in process on the market.”

At neigbouring Bonata, peas are the business. A sophisticated and highly mechanised group of plots servicing the lucrative European export market.

A scenic panorama of lush green Sweet Horizon and Snow Wind peas varieties overwhelms the entire plot from all four corners. The peas crop in individual fields are all at different stages of maturity. A group of women engrossed muted chatter emerge from one of the fields, one after the other, saddled with a dish chock-full with a ripened peas.

They take turns to deliver their loads, firstly onto a scale where the consignment is weighed and recorded before being of offloaded into crates.

These women harvest no less that 1,7 tonnes of peas a day during harvest season.

“Today, we have 39 women harvesting the crop,” farm manager Mr Elisha Mapara told The Sunday Mail Business.

“Most of them are from the compounds at Snake Land. In the past, we, the locals, were unwilling to work for us because of our system of payment, so we resorted to finding labourers from as far as Epworth. Our payment method here is different from what the other farmers in the area do. The crop harvesters are paid for the number of kilogrammes of peas they would have harvested at the end of each day.

“This is because the speed at which one harvest is different from one individual to the next. The locals have however warmed up to this system and have joined us.” On a good day an individual could rake in as much as US$7.

Ms Catherine Maranga, a single parent and one of the labourers who was at the farm when this publication visited last week, said her job is sustaining her fairly well. “This job is putting food on my table. I may not be earning as much as I would like but at least I am surviving,” she said. I have been coming here for more than a year now and have not regretted any day I have worked here.

“I am putting my children to school and taking care of all their needs.”

Here attention to quality is of paramount importance. The unforgiving export market will not hesitate to summarily cancel a supply contract at the slightest hint of failure to comply with agreed standards, says Mr Mapara.

Refrigeration of the harvest is a central piece in peas farming jigsaw and fundamental to the business cycle.

It can make or break an entire harvest.

However, the intermittent load shedding is endangering the survival of this enterprise.

“We sometimes suffer power cuts lasting as long as 12 hours and this in turn damaging our business. We have a back-up generator but I am sure you can imagine the cost that goes into running a high voltage generator for that long.”

Before electricity prepaid metres were installed in the area, the farms where connected top the line leading to the nearby Morton Jaffrey Water Works.

Then power cuts were a rarity.

But this has since changed since the farms were connected to the Kuwadzana power line during the installation of the prepaid power metres. Adjacent to Bonata, is Bev King plot, large establishment equipped with modern farming facilities.

But there seemed to be very little agricultural taking place when The Sunday Mail Business visited.

On the far left side of the entrance lie a number of old greenhouses with most of the material used to construct the mammoth structures in tatters.

On one side a small patch of ripened peas crop adds a bit of colour to the otherwise lifeless environment.

Though this paper was denied exclusive access to the farm it established that the flower farming side of that enterprise has all but collapsed. Having started mainly as an ornamental horticulture establishment, massive loss of business in the European market led to the collapse of the flower business.

As a result, focus is now concentrated on peas and tomatoes for export.

In contrast, at one of the Bonata plots in the area where ornamental horticulture is the core business is booming.

A vast array of roses ranging from Red Furiosa, Tropical Amazon, Viva, Sanoli and Akito are being produced at a massive scale. Also crops such as cherry tomato and pepper are farmed there.

They are all for the export market, mainly the South African markets.

Flowers from the plot are certified under the Mileu Programma Sierteelt (MPS), an international organisation from Holland that develops certification standards for the horticulture sector.

Currently, there are 10 large greenhouses at the 10-hectare plot while another one is under construction.

Farm manager Mr Rodrick Mwaturu said the farm employs over 60 workers.

“We are into serious farming here and have plans to expand our markets going into the future.

The Kintyre Country Project was launched in 1999 with the view to create a horticultural hub in the area.