Farming transforms lives of Shurugwi women
GROUPS of women in Shurugwi communal areas are embarking in massive poultry projects, producing more than 5 000 chickens at a time and raising income which is transforming their lives for the better.
The three groups consist of 10 members in each area and produce more than 1500 chickens per cycle. Sunday News Business established during a field day to the projects last week that the women can run a cycle of seven projects per annum which translates to the production of 35 000 chickens.
The women have already established markets where companies such as Fairhill have become major buyers to support the projects. The women have built standard housing for chickens, drilled solar water boreholes and a biogas tank is under construction with the help of a Non-Governmental Organisation, TechnoServe which is giving technical support in partnership with Agritex.
Local mining giant, Unki Platinum is also a major sponsor for the projects providing building materials for the fowl runs. The rural women said they organised themselves to mould bricks for the construction of the foul run and ablution facilities. They are also growing runner and star grass on the same premise.
Ten hectares of farming land has been facilitated and acquired by Councillor Wilbert Rambanapasi of Ward 12 for the projects. Speaking during the field day tour last Tuesday, Miss Erina Chivhu, chairperson in the poultry project said the project was lucrative and inspiring.
“We’re really excited by the profit we are realising. We didn’t expect that the project we started very small would eventually become big. We’re now able to send our kids to school, buy groceries for our families and buy everything we want. The project is really transforming rural life and is giving our children employment and uplifting us as women,” she said.
Apart from chicken, the project has also been extended to include other forms of livestock such as cattle. The cattle project has incorporated men and youths in the area. The chairperson on cattle production unit, Mr Hativagone Matangire said the project is promising despite a challenge of poor grades on the breed.
“The project is very promising and we’re hoping that it is going to change our lives in the rural areas. Currently we’re faced with challenges of poor grades of cattle but plans are underway to introduce artificial insemination and cross-breeding,” he said.
TechnoServe country manager Mr William Zirebwa said they were targeting the international market for the produce in order to maximise profits and transform rural life under farming.
“We are targeting the international market for this product. We’ve already established markets in the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Germany particularly for horticulture produce,” he said.
He added, “We discovered that rural people have got underutilised land and what they only need is technical support and they can do the rest.”
Mr Zirebwa added that the production of chicken, cattle and horticulture is a one complete cycle in terms of input mobilisation and usage.
“We are fostering sustainable farming where the runner and star grass we use in chicken fowl run is given to cattle for feeding and the dunks from cattle kraals are sent to horticulture gardens. As for rural farming we don’t want to depend on commercial nutrients because they are expensive,” he said.
TechnoSer ve is partnering with Agritex, where officers are trained to assist farmers. TechnoServe is also helping rural farmers across the country to identify markets, training for farming techniques, book keeping and c ons t r u c t i on of irrigation schemes.