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Sydney Kawadza Mash West Bureau
Over a year ago, young Karoi farmer Kudzai Gasho’s life revolved around toiling the markets of Kiev, Ukraine in Europe where he tried to earn a comfortable life. However, a chance encounter with a video clip on Facebook showing President Mnangagwa, then vice president of the Republic of Zimbabwe, addressing a field day on Command Agriculture, changed Gasho’s mindset for good.

Gasho had a dream. The dream conceived in the cold weather of Kiev blossomed to become reality in the sunny rich soils of Karoi, Hurungwe District in Mashonaland West.

For the 31-year-old Gasho, toiling on foreign land can never be as satisfying as working on home soil especially with enough support from Government.

He is a beneficiary of Government’s Command Agriculture programme.
In an interview recently, Mr Gasho did not regret his decision made early last year to ditch Europe and start farming at his father’s farm in Karoi.

“One day I bumped on a post where President Mnangagwa, when he was still the vice president, was marketing the Command Agriculture programme.

“It was there and then that I made a decision to pack my bags and head home to take up farming on a full-time basis. Honestly, I do not regret that decision,” he said. More than a year later, Mr Gasho has grown to become one of the most successful farmers, not only in Mashonaland West but Zimbabwe as a whole.

After just a year into his new venture, Gasho is expecting a bumper harvest from the 200 hectares of maize he grew during the 2017/2018 agricultural season.

“When I was still in Kiev I started pestering Government officials in Mashonaland West so that I could be included in the Command Agriculture programme.

“I never stopped phoning them until I come back when I successfully applied to be part of the programme. Last season I put 200 ha under maize.

“It was not easy because we had some dry spells and a little bit of delays, one or two things affected production, such as acquiring inputs.”

With enough support from Government, Gasho said, he has conquered and would like to build on last season’s successes. “I have been nominated as the most hardworking youth for the 2017/18 season under Government’s awards for enterprising young farmers.

“I am a very grateful, hardworking person. I am glad all my efforts are being recognised. It’s also an incentive for us as young people to keep working hard and plan for a better future.”

In the previous season’s yield, Mr Gasho has managed an average yield of about eight tonnes per hectare.
“The late crop which was a little bit affected by the mid-summer dry spell dropped to 4.5 to five tonnes per hectare but on average I think we did pretty well,” he said. Gasho is still delivering maize to the Grain Marketing Board while also trying to make sure that his produce has the right moisture content.

Riding on that success in the 2017/2018 agricultural season, he has already started working on a lush wheat crop covering 60 hectares supported by the Command Agriculture programme.

“I had no equipment when I started but I have since bought two tractors although I want to add more implements to mechanise my activities on the farm,” he said.

Gasho does not regret his move back to Zimbabwe. “Before venturing into farming I was based in Ukraine and my family is in Europe. I just decided last year in July that I was going to come back and do farming. “I had seen the President addressing farmers in Tengwe at a field day and the remarks he made about the programme convinced me that this is what I needed to do hence I decided to come back.

“I asked for my father if he could allow me to work on his farm so that I could put it to maximum utilisation and as they say, the rest is history.”

He, however, laments the lack of land for youths in Zimbabwe.
“There is one unfortunate thing, though, most youths have no access to farming land this is a serious disadvantage to us,” he said.

However, he is a man with a vision.
“My vision on agriculture is to expand and grow. I have noticed that agriculture is the only thing that can turn one into a millionaire. “Agriculture is the only economic activity that can change a person’s life instantly. It works miracles if you put all your effort in it.” Besides the tractors, Gasho plans to acquire a centre pivot to enhance his irrigation system while putting at least a thousand hectares under maize in the near future. He also retains high hopes for Zimbabwe’s economic turnaround anchored on agricultural production.

“I think Zimbabwean economy turnaround is definitely going to be driven by the agricultural sector and this is the way to go.” Gasho also took time to dismiss the negative perception on Zimbabwe.

Government poured in $503 million in the 2016/2017agricultural season covering both the Command Agriculture and Presidential Input Support Scheme.

During that period close to $190m was set aside for the Command Agriculture programme. Farmers under the Command Agriculture programme are obliged to send part of their produce to the GMB.