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Fortious Nhambura Senior Features Writer
After a few rounds the monster comes to large oval tent, a grain dam, and regurgitates white grain before going back to the field to continue sucking the cobs, shell it, sift the chaff and retain the maize.

The grain in the oval dams awaits transportation to silos.

On another field a group of workers sift through stalks to retrieve cobs that could have been missed by the monster machine. They are putting the cobs into sacks and preparing for shelling using the combine harvester.

Everything at the farm is highly mechanised, making work easy for the workers employed at the farm.

It is typical harvest time at Amatheon Agric Farms in Norton and Murehwa.

Every minute is critical in realising the desired goal of improving production and cut down losses on the farms.

At the farm despite the erratic rainfall received in the last season, more than 500 hectares was put under maize last year and a substantial harvest is being realised. Tonnes of tonnes of maize already been harvested in Murehwa and Norton where the company operates.

Mechanisation is bearing fruit on the Norton farm and the output bears testimony to this. Maize harvests are ranging at 3,5 to 4,2 tonnes per hectare.

It is a clear sign of the importance of mechanisation of the country agriculture sector.

At the farms managed by Amatheon Agri Zimbabwe, subsidiary of Amatheon Agri Holdings, a European-based agribusiness company farming and operating sustainable agriculture in Africa; mechanisation is the way and is responsible for the increase in production at the farms.

Dr Sekai Nzenza, the CEO and board chair of Amatheon Agri Zimbabwe says despite poor rains and climate, mechanisation could still win it for agriculture and the Government’s Zim-Asset programme one of whose clusters is to ensure food security.

She said during a recent tour: “It was not an easy year because the rains did not come at the time expected. We did dryland planting in early November. The rains came and our germination of maize was fantastic. Three weeks later the rain disappeared and we watched our crops wither and they died. Then we had to replant again.”

Surely, without irrigation facilities, farming in Zimbabwe remains a difficult venture as the vagaries of the weather have left many farmers staring at a loss.

But sound technology and skills transfer has helped produce a good harvest for Amatheon Agri Zimbabwe.

Amatheon Agri Zimbabwe is celebrating its first year farming in Zimbabwe.

“However, despite such difficulties, the several thousand tonnes we have harvested are worth celebrating. Encouraged by this result from the pilot phase, the company expects to expand several folds.

“Our contribution to food security in the country will be bigger in next season because we will focus on irrigation, more technology and increased skills transfer,” said Dr Nzenza.

As Zimbabwe seeks to improve food availability and self-sustenance, mechanisation remains the only option to the fully realising the country’s vast agricultural potential. Mechanisation is the use of machinery to quicken production, accomplish task and reduce fatigue and human labour in order to produce better quality goods and services.

That is indeed lacking in Zimbabwe. Years of sanctions that have eroded the farmers’ economic base and market have made it difficult for Zimbabweans to fully embrace the use of machinery in agricultural production.

As such most Zimbabweans rely on the most rudimentary ways of tilling land like the use of hoes and ox-drawn ploughs. While this could be good for the peasant farmer they cannot sustain demand for food or cover the bigger portions of land available through the land reform.

Zimbabwe desperately needs agricultural mechanisation, a process whereby equipment, machinery and implements are utilised to boost agricultural and food production, the day-to-day farm activities to increase output in food production and help in poverty eradication.

For Amatheon Agri Farms the tools to a good harvest has been the mechanisation of the entire production line.

The biggest imported tractor is the John Deere 9560R, a machine that they have used with confidence to disc, rip, plough and sow seeds with a planter. The tractor that fully automatised operates using a GPRS system making ploughing, ridging and planting easy. Once you mark your furrow and set up the co-ordinates the tractor will move on its own without human control. The driver will only come in when they are turning the tractor.

Dr Nzenza said: “Farming, like everywhere else, is not easy. To farm effectively, Zimbabwe needs technology, capital, inputs and knowledge. Despite the odds and the many other challenges, Amatheon Agri is celebrating the harvest and its role in contributing to Zimbabwe’s need for food.

“The company does not export maize. All food is consumed in Zimbabwe by Zimbabweans.

“We pray for a better year with more rains. But climate change is upon us, so we will not leave all that to God. We must plan for irrigation,” said Dr Nzenza.

She said Amatheon had come up with a new form of doing things in Zimbabwe bringing in new technology to support large-scale agriculture investment in Zimbabwe.

“Amatheon Agri Zimbabwe does not own any land but is working alongside farmers to assist them to derive value and maximum profitable use of their farm,”

She said the company role was mainly in providing capital, skills transfer, markets and employment for Zimbabweans. It seeks to enhance food security in Zimbabwe, in alignment with the Government’s Zim-Asset programme.

Dr Nzenza said Amatheon Agri Zimbabwe was committed to providing not only economic benefits, but social benefits through its work in Zimbabwe.

“The company’s aim is to provide immediate and tangible social impact initiatives and solutions to its employees and the farming communities within which it will operate.

“Real value is derived by means of providing training in order to create a support system and cycle of sustainability at grassroots level. The company has already employed an average of 200 mostly part- time seasonal workers in 2014 and 2015. Going forward, Amatheon Agri Zimbabwe will expand by growing maize, wheat and soyabeans under irrigation.

Amatheon Farms manager Mr Theo Chiyoka said: “Now with many Zimbabwean professionals returning to Zimbabwe from other countries it is good that we develop our capacities as a country so that our people can put their skills into practice.”

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