BY EVANS MURANGANWA.
Manicaland, Zimbabwe. (News Of The South) – A number of women in Manicaland’s Honde Valley area are smiling all the way to bank owing to banana farming.
News Of The South establishes that most of them are widows and have been struggling to fend off their families but thanks to Matanuska, a fruit wholesaler.
A widow from Mupangwa Irrigation scheme in Chipupuri Village, Theresa Mareya who is a widow said since she ventured into banana farming her life has improved so much that she is managing to send her 15-year-old daughter to a boarding school.
“I lost my husband in 1992 and from there I have been struggling to fend for my family not until this Matanuska programme came.
“I can harvest close to a 1000kg of bananas a week which translates to quite a handsome amount, ” said Theresa.
Another woman who hails from Muparutsa Village, Tendekai Ndarova said she is now augmenting her husband’s meagre earnings with banana farming.
“When I ventured into banana production, my husband was reluctant to let me do it saying it was arduous but now he is even contemplating leaving his job to grow bananas full time because most of the time I am the one cushioning him,” said the 25 year-old with a chuckle.
Booker Nezomba the chairman of Mupangwa Irrigation Scheme said they are getting technical assistance and various support from Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO).
“FAO support for the smallholder farmers was prompted by the fact that, despite the valley being blessed with abundant water resources, the banana yield was very low. The programme introduced improved banana cultivars, organised farmers into a group for marketing and linked farmers to Matanuska, a leading banana private export company.
“Since the new varieties were introduced, we have learned a lot. But we did not just keep this knowledge to ourselves. As you come down the valley you can now see that this is no longer Honde valley but banana valley”, he said.
He also said women constitute almost 60 % of the banana farmers in Mupangwa Irrigation Scheme.
An agricultural extension officer Lloyd Kafanda said that there is still the need to empower the farmers with IT so that they can access information on better banana farming methods.
“These farmers still need to have the latest technology so they can access information that will improve their yields,” hinted Kafanda.
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