The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure Senior Reporter
BOOKER Chinamasa is familiar name in Rusape and prison registers. To some, he was known as one of the dangerous people of the town.
He has been condemned rightly or wrongly as an outcast. He shot to prominence, albeit for the wrong reasons in 2004 when he diverted four truckloads of farming inputs destined for GMB Rusape to the black market and spent the ill-gotten fortune on a flashy lifestyle.
An insatiable love for money saw Chinamasa getting involved in illegal diamond dealings and extortion scams, among other vices that saw him being behind bars.
His last criminal act was in 2011 when he faked the deportation of a British national, Abbas Macky using a forged letter bearing the then Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Mr Didymus Mutasa’s signature and demanded a $5 000 bribe to stop the deportation.
He was caught red-handed receiving $1 000 from Khan inside a hotel room and was later convicted and spent over a year in prison.
That was the turning point of his life as he went through thorough rehabilitation. On release, Chinamasa kept a low profile and briefly relocated to Harare. With the assistance of a friend who wanted to ameliorate his transformation into a responsible citizen, Chinamasa applied for a farm under the land reform programme in 2014 and was allocated 100 hectares at Kelvin Farm in Headlands.
His detractors laughed him off, wondering who was to be duped using that piece of land.
Nothing good was expected from him. Time would tell how wrong those detractors were as Chinamasa had gladly decided to abandon crime and pursue income-generating activities that are legal and sustainable.
He started reading agriculture materials and realised that to succeed in farming, he must be thoroughly familiar with the characteristics of crops, its germination and growth, the diseases and blights to which it is susceptible, and the methods of controlling them.
In addition to knowing things like these, Chinamasa was to have a sense of business, be able to sell his product where and when it is most profitable, keep adequate records so as to know where he stands financially, and, above all, plan his production to take advantage of the most favourable markets.
Climate is a key factor in determining the kind of crops that can be grown, crop yields, and the type of livestock that will thrive in the region.
He settled for 80 hectares of early maize crop after considering climatic factors like the amount and distribution of rainfall during the year, length of the growing season, severity of the winters, and the possibility of such natural hazards as drought, flood and hailstorms.
Buoyed by an intrinsic desire to reincarnate his standing in society, Chinamasa was one of the first farmers to apply for assistance under the specialised production scheme, Command Agriculture.
It was a risky decision, given his record of inputs abuse and criminology. Many other farmers berated his inclusion saying he would abuse the inputs. However, a tour of his Kelvin Farm a fortnight ago vindicated him.
Farming is a very hard work job and there is no right words to describe how a born again Chinamasa has invested sweat, blood, tears on their land.
As a result of the hard work, Chinamasa’s exploits have obtained recognition.
If people knew what it takes to bring their food on their table, I think they would start appreciating Chinamasa, and other farmers more.
A first timer cannot do that. But there he is on the field performing manual labour for at least eight hours a day, and always exposed to the sun, the wind and the rain.
This is one of the toughest things for a young man who was used to flashy lifestyle sponsored through chicanery.
Regardless, for Chinamasa, farming is now the most fulfilling work.
He is truly enjoying it and will certainly be smiling all the way to the bank having reaped a bumper crop.
“It was my first experience as a farmer,” said Chinamasa, who is convinced that through systematic farming he can lead the nation into a green and profitable future.
“I became a farmer by choice. I had a bad record, and when I applied for allocation of a farm, it was truly a risk. A lot of negative things were said by my detractors. The thinking was that I was going to abuse the inputs as were cases in the past.
I have learnt from my previous mistakes and farming is now the only visible option for me. Prison changed me,” said a remorseful Chinamasa. Chinamasa has planted a massive 80ha of maize. The evaluating team that toured the district recently rated his as “the best crop”.
40 hectares planted on November 15, 2016 is at silking stage and another 40 hectares planted in December is now tussling.
Chinamasa believes Zimbabwe’s future lies in the hands of young farmers whom he said should be exposed to training on how to grow high-quality crops like maize, tobacco and coffee in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way.
“I symbolise what youths are capable of achieving. We are committed to food security and l hope we get inputs for the next season on time, and lastly l thank Government for this great initiative of Command Agriculture,” he said.
Chinamasa is proud of his achievements.
“If it was not the support I got from Government through this programme I would not be this far. There were a lot of things that were being said when I applied for inclusion in the programme, with critics looking at my previous criminal record.
What more is there to prove to the world that I am reformed and a full time farmer,” said Chinamasa.
“I received the required fertilisers, but I may require more because rains have been incessant resulting in the leaching of nutrients from the soil. I am expecting to harvest between eight and 10 tonnes per hectare,” he explained.
Chinamasa has invested over $10 000 into the maize project as he had to hire tractors, planters, labour to clear the land as the farm had only 20ha which was arable.
“Though I have never considered myself as a farmer, I am enjoying every bit of it and I have started making plans to do a lot better next year. My motivation and desire is to empower and sustain my family ethically,” said Chinamasa.
He drew inspiration from reputable farmers like Mr Lovemore Gijima Msindo and Mrs Monica Chinamasa, who gave him advice and the support he needed.
Chinamasa said his major hiccup was lack of farming equipment and money to finance labour and purchase irrigation equipment, among other operations.
Chinamasa said injecting funds in agriculture could positively make a difference in the lives of resource-poor smallholder farmers, as it resultantly raises their income, reduce poverty and enhance food security.
“I do not have money for labour. Government did well by giving inputs, but banks should join Government to make agriculture viable and sustainable. I have 65 workers who need to be paid at the end of the day,” he said.
Chinamasa said Government should give more land to youths as most of them, with proper orientation and sound resource base, can perform wonders.
He argued that this makes agriculture a priority area of development in Zimbabwe, and hence such a move, significantly contributes toward realisation of many other priorities, including poverty eradication, job creation, peace and stability.
Government and banks should allocate sufficient resources to agriculture, the benchmark being the 10 percent target.
Command Agriculture facilitates farmers to improve farm outputs and evolve agriculture as an income generating enterprise by way of preparing them to adopt right technologies and countering obstacles in production process.
Research has shown that several countries that have increased their support for agriculture have reaped the rewards.
Examples include Ghana, whose support averaged 9.1 percent of public spending. It achieved 17 times higher agriculture output per capita and resultantly reduced extreme poverty by 44 percent.
Burkina Faso, also allocated 17 percent of its budget to agriculture (2003-2010) doubling the number of cotton growing households while cotton related activities created about 235 000 jobs that benefited nearly 1.8 million people.
So is Ethiopia, whose allocation to agriculture, (2003 to 2010), stood at 15.2 percent of the national budget — whose impact trebled extension staff, quadrupled the length of rural road and reduced poverty by 49 percent.
