By Pauline Odhiambo
Unico Chikomo holds a master's degree in international trade law, but a childhood passion has become his vocation.
Like many young people in his native Zimbabwe, Unico's initial struggle to find employment prompted him to turn to farming instead of waiting to land a job. His ally in this journey is something not many would associate with this sector — social media.
On his sprawling 100-acre farm, located about 20 kilometres from the capital city of Harare, Unico grows butternut, lettuce, beans, potatoes, and peas. Cabbage farming is, however, his primary source of income.
"Last year, I was able to harvest about 300,000 cabbages," he tells TRT Afrika. "I sold most of the produce locally to market vendors and food companies in Zimbabwe. The rest went to the international market."
Unico, who has been farming since 2019, is part of the Federation of Young Farmers Club in Zimbabwe, which helps farmers market their produce through digital platforms, among other forums.
WhatsApp markets
Unico attributes much of his success as a farmer to the various digital support groups through which he has learnt to market his produce in local and international markets.
"We have WhatsApp groups where we discuss how the government pays farmers and the state of the international market. Many of us also share links to food companies seeking supplies from farmers and information about equipment vendors selling tractors, irrigation systems and the like," he says.
"We even talk about how to deal with cases of theft on our farms and how best to improve our farming practices."
Being part of various social media groups has helped Unico tap into European markets and explore new ones such as the UAE, where many young Zimbabwean farmers are now sending their produce.
Shared information has also enabled the 31-year-old to establish links with companies seeking seed crops like sugar beans and other horticultural produce from his farm.
"We help each other through networking and sourcing contracts from food processing companies," he explains.
Several of these WhatsApp groups have representatives from the ministry of agriculture, which makes it easier for farmers to get direct answers to their queries.
"We also organise field days through these groups, visiting each other's farms, seeing what each one is doing, and sharing inputs on how we can improve," says Unico.
Farmland scarcity
Selling produce and sourcing equipment is not always just a click away. Many young farmers face multiple challenges that digital assistance often can't solve, including finding suitable land for farming.
"Access to land is the biggest challenge for the farming sector in Zimbabwe. Many young farmers are renting land owned by their parents, relatives and friends," Dr Prince Kuipa, an agronomist and operations director of the Zimbabwe Farmers' Union, tells TRT Afrika.
"Some illegally sublet land they got from government resettlement programmes, which sometimes leads to crop loss caused by evictions."
Accelerated land resettlement programmes were started in 2000 to transfer ownership of previously white-owned farms to the black population. However, the uptake was low as many young farmers failed to meet the financial requirements.
Under the land reform programme, a quarter (of arable land) was reserved for the youth, but applicants needed to prove they had the means to go into agriculture by providing bank statements and listing their property ownership. This could be in terms of livestock and other movable and immovable assets.
"These requirements were largely unfair because they excluded many young people who didn't have assets of their own," says Dr Kuipa.
This further limits young people from accessing loans to fund their farming.
“Unfortunately, land is a finite resource, so most is already owned. There are few parcels left to allocate to young farmers now," Dr Kuipa explains.
Revolution of sorts
Since assuming office in 2017, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has launched policies to attract more young people to farming.
The government's pro-farming mindset is partly anchored in a programme called "Pfumvudza", or master farmers' revolution. The scheme extends subsidies to young farmers and supports the adoption of better farm practices.
"Pfumvudza is among the structured finances that the government guarantees to small-scale farmers, but that is like a drop in the ocean, especially in an unstable economy," says Dr Kuipa. "Most of the farmers not covered by government programmes are self-financing, which is limiting."
Interest on loans is also currently high at approximately 12-15%.
Joint ventures
Dr Kuipa advises young farmers facing challenges to take advantage of joint-venture opportunities and service provisions.
"Farmers who have land but limited funding can form a joint venture with a partner with the financial muscle to run a farm," he says.
"We have had white farmers who lost land during the reform period partnering with those allocated land. It's a symbiotic arrangement."
Joint ventures are facilitated through an application process supervised by the ministry of lands to protect black farmers against exploitation.
Dr Kuipa believes young people interested in farming but without access to land can contribute to the value chain by providing services like pest control and maintenance of irrigation equipment, among other farm-related tasks.
Social media apps are handy in this regard. The Zimbabwe Farmers' Union, for instance, uses platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to profile young farmers and give them an online marketplace to sell their produce.
"This encourages them to keep their farming dreams alive despite the challenges," Dr Kuipa tells TRT Afrika.
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