Welcome to Cheza run thriving mixed farm at Subdivision SD43
MIDWEEK REPORTER
CHIRUMANZU-As a sign of love and confidence in his motherland, Patrick Cheza who relocated from the UK a few years back has invested heavily in farming to feed the nation as he has set it as his number one priority.
This is witnessed by the infrastructure that he has built at his thriving Subdivision SD43 in Mahamara area in Chirumanzu Rural District which he started running in 2016.
In less than six years Cheza has turned the 125hectare farm into a thriving mixed farming venture supplying produce to the two biggest cities in the Midlands Province, Gweru and Kwekwe.
“After coming back from the diaspora, I decided to invest in feeding the nation and when I got the farm in 2016, there was no looking back and it was all systems go as we embarked on mixed farming, where we grow butternuts, cucumbers, maize, tomatoes, vegetables and pepper.
“We also rear cattle, sheep, geese, ducks, chickens and goats,” said Cheza who is an envy of many farmers in the area.
Every fortnight a 20tonne truck delivers produce from the farm to either Gweru or Kwekwe with cucumbers, tomatoes, butternuts, vegetables and green mealies.
There are 102 well fed Braham and mixed breed cattle and more than 15 are lactating.
There is enough milk for the 33 workers and 19 students on attachment, all resident at the thriving farm which is 70km from Mvuma Town when one is using the Gweru Road.
Neighbours also get a taste of the milk if there is excess and that happens quite regularly.
There are both female and male students from all the agricultural colleges dotted around the country.
“We are very grateful to Mr Cheza for giving us the opportunity to have a hands-on learning experience at his farm, there is everything here, good accommodation, water, electricity and food that we grow on our own.
“In short, we lack nothing and my wish would be to come back after college and work here for more experience as the place offers everything,” said Felistas Makura a female student from a Mlezu College.
Senior workers who spoke to The Midweek Watch crew in the absence of the farm manager who was on holiday out of the country, Raphael Hama and Albert Mhizha said they have not started selling some of the domestic animals that they are rearing.
“We have 30 Boer goats imported from South Africa, 24 choice Dorper sheep, 29 geese, 19 ducks, 44 free range chickens and 37 rock pigeons (hanga) and these we are not yet selling commercially as they are still breeding,” said Hama.
There are four solar powered boreholes for domestic use, irrigating the three greenhouses and other crops at the farm.
“We have solar powered all our boreholes to ensure there is constant uninterrupted supply of enough water for the domestic animals, crops and tapped water for the workers any time of the day,” said Cheza.
