Story by Gay Matambo
True to the Second Republic’s mantra that Zimbabweans are masters of their destiny, sugarcane farmers in Mkwasine have mobilised resources to purchase earth-moving equipment for road construction and maintenance in the area.
The poor state of the road network in and around Mkwasine sugarcane estate has become a perennial challenge that locals have endured for years.
This has come with challenges for farmers to transport their cane to the mills in Hippo Valley and Triangle.
The situation is however set to be a thing of the past after 312 sugarcane farmers under the Mkwasine Management Committee mobilised funds to purchase a grader worth US$148 000, which will be used for road construction and maintenance in the area.
“The local district council, which is responsible for rehabilitating our roads has a lot on its plate and it was taking long them long to fix our roads hence we came together as farmers and we decided to buy the grader,” said one of the farmers.
“We were contributing US$38.50 each from May 2022 to March this year. We managed to raise funds to purchase the grader which will go a long way in ensuring that our roads are in a good state. Some of our fields need levelling so we decided to collectively acquire this grader for the benefit of the farmers and locals,” added another farmer.
“Unlike farmers at Triangle and Hippo Valley we are on our own because Tongaat withdrew from Mkwasine during the land reform programme. Transporting cane to the mills was a nightmare. It was expensive because the transporters would charge us more due to the bad state of roads,” another noted.
Another said, “Some transporters were even threatening not to set foot in Mkwasine but then we said to ourselves, government has empowered us with farms and we should not always cry for help. Let’s act like empowered people and that is how we decided to purchase a grader. We are hoping to purchase an excavator soon.”
The earth-moving equipment was commissioned at Mkwasine Country Club this Wednesday, where Chiredzi District Development Coordinator, Mr Lovemore Chisema noted the importance of community engagement in the country’s development agenda.
“These are the fruits of collective actions, developing common objectives and uniting for a common purpose. It is difficult to break a united people and I would like to commend the farmers here for spearheading development in this area,” he noted.
“The farmers did not work alone in this project. They were consulting us each time they needed advice and now this is a product of progressive mindsets and hard work. Such noble actions are in line with the Second Republic’s mantra, Nyika Inovakwa Nevene vayo,” he went on.
Mkwasine is one of the three large-scale estates alongside Triangle and Hippo Valley where the bulk of the country’s sugarcane is produced.
