A silent revolution that is progressively minting millionaires is underway in the countryside, where youths are working miracles on farms, taking advantage of the resurgence in the agriculture sector.
An unlikely new cadre of the new revolution is 32-year-old Patrick Matadi, a former farm labourer, who is making the most of a rented property in Lions’ Den, Mashonaland West province.
During the current summer cropping season, he has planted 45 hectares of tobacco, 18 hectares of maize and is in the process of putting 40 hectares under sugar beans.
It is a remarkable turnaround in fortune for someone whose family was so poor that they could not afford to pay his school fees.
He had to work as a labourer on Igava Farm in Marondera to help put food on the table.
Incidentally, Igava was one of the four sprawling white-owned commercial farms that were occupied by people from Svosve communal lands at the turn of the millennium, as they sought to reclaim land that was stolen by colonial occupiers at the end of the 19th century. The other three are Bruce, Daskop and Homepark farms.
The move essentially marked the beginning of the land reform programme.
Matadi, whose father died while he was a toddler, was not bitter about his unfortunate circumstances, but embraced farming and eventually fell in love with it.
“Life was not easy. I could not do well in my studies at school due to pressure of balancing studies and working on farms to get money for food. My mother was not employed, so we used to do these jobs that we called maricho (piecework) on different farms in and around Marondera,” Matadi told The Sunday Mail during a tour of his farming operations.
“When the late former Harare mayor, Cde Solomon Tavengwa, saw my passion in agriculture while working for him on his Marondera farm, he gave me five bags of tobacco fertiliser. That is when I started growing tobacco.”
With the help of his mother and their neighbour, who had a tractor, the teenager rented a piece of land and had a successful season on a half-hectare field.
Then aged 18, Matadi, with the help of a local extension officer, engaged a tobacco contracting company.
“I planted three hectares of tobacco and got good rewards that enabled me to save for the next season.”
He was so fiercely determined to transform his family’s fortunes that he looked for more land to rent.
This led him to a farm in Lion’s Den, where he is doing wonders.
He is now the proud owner of three tractors, centre pivots and other machinery that he has acquired through proceeds from his hard work. Last year alone, Matadi pocked close to US$1 million.
“This season, I wanted to put over 100ha of tobacco and add over 50ha of maize, then 50ha of beans, but I encountered challenges because the land is not mine. There are some jealous neighbours who always threaten to sabotage my crops,” he said.
Mhangura Member of Parliament Mrs Precious Chinhamo Masango said the young farmer’s exploits are testimony that agriculture can significantly transform lives and the country’s fortunes.
“I want to urge youths to learn from this young man. He is a good example to many that agriculture is big business. He is a good man. Recently, we had high-ranking officials in the area and he contributed three beasts for the occasion. If it was not for agriculture, he would not have afforded that,” she said.
A field day will soon be hosted at Matadi’s rented farm so that other farmers can take a leaf from his remarkable venture. – Sunday Mail
