Tuesday 3 September 2013

Voices from the field: an entrepreneurial farmer from Gutu

For the next few weeks, I am going to highlight our videos, 'Voices from the Field'. They offer a brief overview of the perspectives of different farmers who have been involved in our on-going research in Masvingo province. They don't try and offer a full picture of land reform in Zimbabwe, with all the background and history, as hoped for by some, but just a flavour or what people are up to. The case studies in each film are introduced by an overview of the project that lasts for about a minute.

This week, I want to introduce, Mrs Masiiwa who is an entrepreneurial farmer on an A1 villagised site in Gutu district, Lonely farm. She has a mix of crops, including maize, groundnuts, beans, bambarra nuts and also vegetables. Part of her field is on a vlei (wetland). This means she is able to grow some crops under hand irrigation from a well. She sells locally but also transports produce to the informal market in Masvingo, where she sells them to traders. Some traders export produce, selling in South Africa. She makes a tidy profit that she is reinvesting in her farm, but also spending the proceeds on supporting her children and their schooling.  She hopes to fence her field, and buy a pump to expand her irrigation. She has already bought a cell phone from her proceeds, as well as some pigs which she feeds with feed purchased from crop sales.



For the full set, go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/ZimLandReform

This post was written by Ian Scoones and originally appeared on Zimbabweland