by Christopher Makaza

Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement through the department of Agricultural Education is seeking to commercialise Agriculture college farms, which are being under utilised due to lack of resources.

According to a contact within the Ministry, targeted college farms include Gwebi, Chibhero, Shamva, Rio Tinto, Kushinga Pekelela, Mlezu, Esigodini and Mazowe Veterinary Services among others, which have an average of more than 100 hectares each.

Contact said most of the farms were lying idle, as the only source of revenue which came in form of fees being generated by the colleges’ student enrolment, was not enough to fund production on the farms.

 The commercialisation of the farms, the contact said, would allow them to partner with seasoned players who would bring in agricultural inputs and mechanization equipment. He added that most of the equipment on the farms was now dilapidated.

The colleges intend to model their partnership arrangement in the same manner the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) modelled its own partnership structures.

For instance, ARDA Antelope estate in Matobo district, Matabeleland partnered with a company Credcorp and to date the estate has 670 hectares of land utilised under pivot irrigation and 528 hectares of winter wheat, which was harvested in October. The estate also grows horticultural crops.

ARDA also partnered Valley irrigation Scheme in ward 13 Matobo, where they have started planting 20 000 pecan nut trees on 140 hectares of land. The partner chipped in and paid the outstanding water bill and contracted  ZESA to replace the copper conductors, which were stolen last year.

According to the contact, selection of partners will be determined by the intended projects as well as the agro-ecological region the farms fall under. The contact highlighted that the Ministry was targeting partners in the areas of crop production, horticulture, animal husbandry, dairy and perennial crops such as coffee, pecan nuts and macadamia nuts among others.

Economic analyst, Mr Never Muchabayana said commercialisation of the college farms was prudent. He averred that partnership with private players would generate revenue for self-sustenance as Treasury was constrained.

“The partnership agreement should, however, be water tight so that colleges benefit on an equal standing,” he said.