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George Maponga Senior Writer
The Lowveld area in southern Masvingo is notorious for its high temperatures, although it is endowed with fertile soils. Without irrigation, production of maize and other cereals is considered a dream in the districts of Chiredzi, Chikombedzi and parts of Mwenezi that receive very scanty rains. Communities in the Lowveld have had to be content with small grains such as millet, sorghum and rapoko that are drought-tolerant and have the capacity to thrive in arid areas.

When Lowveld sugar cane producer Tongaat Hulett recently announced the revival of irrigated winter maize production at some of its estates, echoes of approval reverberated across the drought-stricken Masvingo province amid high hopes the move was going to ease crippling food shortages.

Winter maize production in the Lowveld was first introduced by the then Masvingo Governor and Resident Minister Senator Josaya Hungwe, who is now the Minister of State responsible for Psychomotor Activities in Education and Vocational Training.

Almost 23 years after the first experiment, Senator Hungwe, who now serves as the ruling party secretary for production in the Politburo, has set his sights on winter maize production in the Lowveld again.

“I am happy that Tongaat Hulett agreed to work with me during our first experiment to grow winter maize in the Lowveld under irrigation in 1993 and they have once again answered in the affirmative to revive the project this year,’’ he says.

Senator Hungwe says winter maize production in the Lowveld will help Masvingo cope with crippling food shortages induced by a severe drought that wreaked havoc around Zimbabwe in the last farming season.

He paid tribute to Tongaat Hulett for agreeing to mix its sugar cane growing business with winter maize produc- tion.

“We have a very serious drought this year and it is our hope that the winter maize that will be harvested by Tongaat Hulett this year will be enough to feed the entire Chiredzi District. This means that as a province we now know that in terms of food security, Chiredzi District will be safe,” he added.

Tongaat Hulett’s managing director, Mr Sydney Mutsambiwa, says his company was motivated to venture into winter maize production this year as part of its own efforts to ease biting hunger in the country.

He said the sugar cane producer was very much alive to the plight of hunger-stricken families across Masvingo and beyond who faced food woes after last season’s drought.

He said after being approached by Senator Hungwe, his company agreed to set aside about 329 hectares for winter maize production at its Triangle cane estates.

“We envisage to plant about 329 hectares under maize which, according to our initial projections, will give us about 1 000 tonnes of maize at an average yield per hectare of four tonnes,’’ he said.

Mr Mutsambiwa said his company would invest nearly $500 000 into the winter maize venture and were not expecting to recoup any costs.

“We are assisting Government to beat the challenges of food currently prevailing in the country and we hope the maize that will be produced by our agriculture team will go some way in mitigating food shortages especially in Chiredzi District and other parts of Masvingo,” he said

The Tongaat Hulett managing director said it was his company’s hope that most of the grain produced under the winter maize initiative would go to vulnerable members of society such as orphans and the elderly.

Mr Mutsambiwa said they expected to harvest the winter maize around the end of September this year before it is handed over to Government for distribution to those in need.

Tongaat Hullet agriculture planning director Mr Farai Musikavanhu said planting of maize on the 329 hectares of prepared land would take only 12 days with the company deploying its state-of- the-art machinery such as ploughs, disc harrows and planters to the estates earmarked for the maize project.

Mr Musikavanhu said irrigation of the winter maize would be done using electricity generated from Tongaat Hulett sugar cane mills at Hippo Valley and Triangle.

“Our mills will be running non-stop which means they will also be producing electricity that we will use to irrigate our winter maize. So we do not expect disruptions in irrigating the crop caused by power outages,” he said.

Senator Hungwe says other private companies around the country should replicate the example set by Tongaat Hulett and spread the practice of winter maize production around Zimbabwe.

He said the country could drastically reduce its huge maize import bill if other companies that were involved in large-scale crop irrigation took a leaf from Tongaat Hulett.

“We are very proud as a Government of the example that is being shown by Tongaat Hulett. We could do well and go some way in achieving our Zim-Asset goals if we are innovative and closely work with Government like what Tongaat Hulett is doing,” said Senator Hungwe.

Former Masvingo governor Cde Titus Maluleke said the move by Tongaat Hulett to revive winter maize production was timely saying Government should extend support to such companies for them to expand the pro- gramme.

Cde Maluleke said the Lowveld could become a hub of winter maize production owing to the high number of dams from which water for irrigation purposes could be drawn.

“I think we need to take winter maize production seriously as a country because it can be a solution to recurrent food crises that are always afflicting our country. The move by Tongaat Hulett should be applauded as it also dovetails with Zim-Asset because this project has the potential to enhance Masvingo’s food security,” said Cde Maluleke.

He added that Tongaat Hulett deserved to be commended for committing part of its irrigation infrastructure to the production of winter maize in the quest to help the nation mitigate the impact of the prevailing food shortages.

Senator Hungwe conceived winter maize production during one of his visits to the Lowveld in the early 1990s when he was still Masvingo Governor and Resident Minister.

He approached Tongaat and sold the company his idea resulting in an initial close to 400 hectares being put under winter maize in the wake of a crippling nationwide drought in 1992.

Produce from the pilot project was moved by railway from Nandi GMB depot and other drought-stricken parts of Zimbabwe.

The development was hailed as master-stroke in the agricultural arena with even the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) showing interest in the initiative touted as a possible panacea to hunger.

There is a general belief that winter maize production in Zimbabwe should be cemented and become an annual development on the national agricultural calendar owing to its potential to provide a long-term solution to the problem of hunger in Zimbabwe.

Winter maize production becomes even more important in Zimbabwe and other countries today due to the effects of climate change that is spawning more droughts leaving millions of people food insecure.

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