The Sunday Mail
Leroy Dzenga
Senior Reporter
WHEN colonial settlers apportioned the country, they condemned natives to areas known as reserves.
Apparently they had concluded that natives would only produce enough to feed themselves and, therefore, did not need the most fertile of land.
How wrong they were.
A Buhera woman, Mrs Christine Taranhike, who has turned her 12-hectare rural plot into a highly productive export centre, is one of the many Zimbabweans upgrading their rural areas through intensive farming projects. She has since grown her enterprise into a fledging commercial operation. Known as Mai Chimuti by those in Mukoto Village, Ward 31, Buhera, the 52-year-old left her job in the hospitality industry and took a leap of faith in pursuit of her passion.
Today, she has set up a commercial horticultural operation that produces garlic and ginger. She is also into poultry production. Mrs Taranhike started by growing ginger and garlic on a small plot that has progressively developed in scale over the years.
She now exports her produce.
“Ginger and garlic have not been grown in rural communities, especially in Buhera, hence a few years ago I started growing them at a small-scale and studying how best to produce good-quality products,” she told The Sunday Mail.
On seeing her initial success, she decided to widen the scope of her operations.
“We now grow traditional crops using dry-land farming on four hectares. We produce maize using conservation agriculture.”
The horticulture operation, where ginger, turmeric, garlic and peppers are grown, is now mechanised.
“Our horticulture is done under open-field drip irrigation of high-value crops. In summer, we plant half a hectare of ginger and we plant one-eighth of a hectare turmeric, and chillies occupy the same size,” she said.
In summer, they also plant garlic and peppers on the same piece of land. She exports the bulk of her products to Europe and neighbouring countries.
Recently, she exported two tonnes of turmeric to South Africa and expects to send larger quantities after her next harvest. She also rears free-range chickens.
The business sells fertilised eggs, guinea fowl, peacocks and rabbits.
There are ongoing plans to add value to farm produce. With four permanent employees and about 60 part-time workers, Mrs Taranhike hopes to phase out exports of unprocessed crops.
Their homestead was declared the Smart Integral Kumusha by ICT, Postal and Courier Services Minister Dr Jenfan Muswere in December 2021.
“We are in the process of building a processing plant which will cover stockfeed production, value addition of traditional grains, establishment of a research academy, training facilities and lodging facilities for students on attachment and researchers,” she added.
As part of efforts to give back to her community, she founded goat-rearing programme.
“I am founder of MeeMee goat project. It involves 30 community members (23 women).
“Each member contributes and we contribute money to buy female goats for raring,” she said.
Her family has interests in transport and other ventures but she says despite all the competing interests, she always has time for community work.
“My passion is to serve people and get pride adding value to people’s lives and livelihoods, especially in helping rural communities eradicate poverty, hunger and marginalisation.”
Mrs Taranhike is currently engaged in work with the Garlic Ginger Turmeric Association of Zimbabwe (GGTAZ), Marondera Horticulture Research Institute, and Midlands State University.
International institutions including ST Gallen University-Switzerland (reshaping international development programme), Meridian University-USA (transformational leadership) and Ibadan University in Nigeria are also studying her work.
