By Fidelis Manyange

ZIMBABWE is poised for a bumper harvest thanks to the abundant rains received during the just-ended summer cropping season. Cuba, renowned for its urban agricultural revolution where backyard farming became essential during the 1990s’ economic crisis, is a good example of successful urban farming. In Kenya, urban residents have embraced backyard farming such as utilising small spaces, sacks and trays. These examples have, no doubt, inspired Zimbabweans to embrace this model for a more food sustainable future. This is because urban farming helps in slashing grocery bills, improving dietary diversity and ensuring convenient access to farm produce.

For its part, the Government, in its efforts to leave no-one and no place behind in developmental programmes, provided most urban households with inputs under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa Programme, thereby boosting urban food security across the board. Over the years, with the rise in rural-urban migration, urbanites have tended to rely on farm produce purchased from Mbare Musika, roadside stalls and/ or supermarkets. But with the increasing food prices, most families have intensifi ed urban agriculture to meet their immediate food requirements. And, judging by the current crop situation, most urban areas, especially in Harare, will not go hungry.

Just two years ago, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Lands and Rural Development, Dr Anxious Masuka, predicted Zimbabwe’s agro-industry would rake in around US$13,75 billion in 2025. Eyeing a share of that lucrative bonanza are the thousands of urban farmers who are into such crops as maize, sweet potatoes and horticulture, mostly for their own consumption while the surplus fi nds its way to the market.

Usually, urban people meet their food needs from rural produce. But for years, every open space in urban areas has been put under the hoe or sometimes the tractor, depending on the size of the plot. A snap survey by The Patriot around Harare revealed that open spaces in areas such as Braeside, Epworth, Hatfi eld, Mufakose, Kuwadzana, Dzivaresekwa, Highlands, Kambuzuma, among others, have a good maize crop, not to mention traditional crops such as rapoko/zviyo. “Kurima takarima, Shamwari.

Chibage tinacho gore rino tototya kubirwa naivo vanogocha mumugwagwa,” said Beven Chihoho of Glen Norah A. A key feature of the Harare environment is the vlei phenomenon. Vleis are seasonally waterlogged drainage systems that occur in both clay and sandy soils. During the wet season (October to March), they become heavily waterlogged, resulting in surface marshes along all drainage systems. The vlei soils get wet with the fi rst rains and then retain moisture long into the next wet season.

The proximity of vleis to streams makes them ideal for both maize farming and market gardening. One such farmer who has been making use of these vleis as a source of his livelihood is Epworth’s Marko Jose Garavhata who has been carrying out his farming activities near Jacha River, a tributary of Mukuvisi River, for over a decade. Thanks to his ‘green fi ngers’, Garavhata supplies vendors from around his home and adjacent suburbs with maize, vegetables, magogoya (yams), beans, sugar cane and egg plants, among others, all year round. “The only place we used to get green mealies for resale was Mbare Musika but now we are getting them at more aff ordable prices right on our doorstep,” says Cryson Mateko, who makes a living by selling roasted maize cobs along Chiremba Road in Braeside.

“I used to pay US$1 for fi ve cobs, but now I am paying 50 US cents for 12. This is largely because urban farmers harvested more maize this year than in the past.” Urban farming has also taken the ‘City of Kings and Queens’ by storm with open spaces in suburbs such as Bradfi eld, Emganwini, Mahatshula, Mpopoma and Mzilikazi, among others, teeming with a thriving maize crop. Not to be outdone is Gweru’s Clonsilla suburb, a stone’s throw away from the city centre, along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway.

Despite the wet season tapering to an end, urban farmers will obviously want to take advantage of the vlei/matoro plots to plant an early and late crop to enable them to produce two harvests from the same piece of land. Maize, in particular, is Zimbabwe’s staple food and can be consumed in various forms for breakfast (porridge), lunch (sadza or manhuchu) and supper (mostly as sadza). A bumper harvest of the staple crop often translates to cheaper mealie-meal prices. Some rural farmers anticipate a bucket of maize, which currently costs US$10-12, going down to as low as US$3 in the wake of a bumper season for both rural and urban farmers.