Two-wheel tractors making maize farming attractive...

Two-wheel tractors making maize farming attractive in Masvingo

Ranganai Muzorori is no longer a basic subsistence farmer sorely relying on iffy rains to harvest something once a year.

He is now an entrepreneur with multiple revenue streams, including one that pays him consistently through the year.

All thanks to his two-wheel tractor.

Speaking during the R4 Rural Resilience and ZAMBUKO seed and mechanization fair in Masvingo, the maize farmer said not only has his income gone up, he now works smarter, doing more in less time.

“We no longer rely on animal draft power or our own manual labor, but the tractor,” Muzorori said, explaining how the tractor has made land preparation that much easier.

The two-wheel tractor provides multiple essential maize production facilities. Image by Tawanda Hove

The tractor comes with multiple attachments that offer various functions such as maize threshing and shelling, time consuming and hard tasks when done manually.

“In a day I can shell about 10 tons, which is helpful for saving precious time,” Muzorori said.

Muzorori has secured an annual garbage collection contract with Great Zimbabwe Hotel and uses his tractor to haul trash to the dumpsite.

How Muzorori got his wonder tractor

Muzorori committed to pay a total of US$2500 for the two wheeler tractor on a lease to buy agreement.

The tractors are the result of a low cost mechanisation partnership International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Zimbabwe’s government extension arm Agritex (Department of Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services).

Agritex and CIMMYT provide an innovative financial scheme under which farmers like Muzorori pay a commitment fee of $500 USD and receive the tractor

After a grace period of four months the contracted farmers known as service providers, pay instalments of $100 USD a month for 20 months. The project covers half of the machinery cost as risk sharing.

So far, there are 34 service providers participating in Masvingo, offering mechanization services to smallholder farming communities for a fee. The project is a scalable pilot for the rest of the country.

The service provider model puts the focus on the asset owners, who not only enjoy the benefits of the mechanization, but also offer services to surrounding farming communities which causes exponential impact, lead scientist with CIMMYT Abdul Matin said.

The project is funded by the World Food Programme, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the United States Agency for International Development.

Fair spreads info to more farmers

Tickborne infections including the January diseases decimated cattle herds across the country leaving communal farmers with draft-power shortages during the main planting season.

Thus the fair came in handy to give farmers alternative, practical and accessible options.

“The fair provides a platform to demonstrate and showcase the impact of the new technology to farmers,” project coordinator for CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program in the Southern Africa Regional Office located in Zimbabwe, Pamela Chirwa.

“We need to continuously expose farmers to other farmers who have moved on to mechanized production. Such farmer-to-farmer extension makes it easier for others to adopt technology as they relate to each other better,” Chirwa said.

“We need to move with the times, the days of relying on either draft power or manual labor should be a thing of the past,” said Agritex supervisor Caleb Mnkandla during the fair.

“With more exposure forums for farmers like this, we can accelerate the adoption of mechanized agriculture even at a smallholder farmer level.”

Mechanisation makes farming more attractive to women and youths: Image Tawanda Hove

T“Smallholder production systems in Africa have been heavily comprised of intense drudgery which makes farming less attractive for youth and difficult for women,” said Abdul Matin.

“The new mechanization technologies we are bringing in are meant to reduce drudgery and cost, and add increased efficiencies to smallholder farmer operations.”

“Adopting improved maize seed varieties alongside two-wheel tractors and other machinery will also improve capacity and potential earnings,” said CIMMYT principal scientist Christian Thierfelder.

Adapted from Cimmy-T publication.