Communal farmers shine

President Robert Mugabes Zanu (PF) claims that thousands of blacks have benefited from the land largesse, but in Murewa people are still living on fragmented land inherited from forefathers. While some, exasperated by the meagre harvest from the over-used land, have opted to go to Harare, Simon Mombe, his wife and children have decided to venture into cash crop farming and the rewards they say have been tremendous.

We decided to plant tobacco in 2008 and since then we have not looked back. This season alone we have planted three hectares with tobacco and we are expecting to get 40 to 50 bales of tobacco, said Mombe. The farming at Mombe homestead is based on animal draught power, as they do not have a tractor. But that is not a deterrent. Through sheer determination, with a workforce of only three adults, they have grown tobacco which is highly labour intensive.

Unlike the so-called new farmers, the Mombe family did not receive any subsidised input from the government and have to therefore make sure that they fend for themselves. When we sold our tobacco last year we immediately bought all the required inputs, including 30 bags of fertiliser, seedlings, and chemicals. We are self-reliant and do not seek support from the government or any other organisation, said Mombe.

The tobacco farming family has set an example for the people of Murewa, many of whom have also started to grow the cash crop – with mixed fortunes. Many families in Murewa are now growing tobacco and this has been a success story that I hope all families provided that they have the inputs and labour will venture into. We are aware of the challenges that people who grow tobacco face and we hope to eventually provide a communal tractor to help in land tillage, said the MP for Murewa Ward Nezi.

Life for the Mombe family indeed has been transformed by growing tobacco, which is highly regarded because of its quality and mainly exported to China.

Their homestead, which has all trappings of modern days, is in sharp contrast to the newly resettled people most of whom, because of land insecurity, have built pole and dagga houses due to uncertainty on whether they will be permanent at their farms.

Many people have failed to borrow money for inputs by using the leases as banks demand title deeds in order to provide loans.

While the Mombe family has managed to plant tobacco, many of the new famers have failed and those successful have chosen to grow maize as they do not have the capital nor the security of land that Mombe enjoys at his forefathers home. They have a borehole for irrigation, a generator for electricity, and have also diversified their farming and are now keeping pigs, chicken and also grow maize.