Youth in Zimbabwe generally shy away from the agriculture sector. With no access to productive resources and mainly serving as ‘unpaid’ labourers on their parents’ land, they grow to shun farming. Some PELUM Zimbabwe members are working with youth to undo this mind set and get youth actively involved in the agriculture sector.
Fainos Masuka (23) is a smallholder farmer from Gutu district working with Chinyika Community Development Trust. He is part of a group of 10 farmers who are reviving soil fertility in crop fields using cattle and movable kraals.
Fainos says he sees the benefits of improving soil fertility each time he encloses cattle in his crop field for approximately seven nights.
“Using movable kraals I don’t use any money. I am using my hands, soil and cattle to grow my crops. I grow enough food and I won’t use any money to buy food. So the work that I do with my hands pays me,” says Fainos.
Fainos says he planted a diversity of crops in his animal impacted crop field. He then grew maize, legumes and a variety of squashes. He did this to improve soil fertility, retain moisture and to spread the risk in case of crop failure.
“I have diversified to spread the risk so that if one crop fails I can depend on another,“ says Fainos.
Planting diverse crops was a common practice in Zimbabwe six decades ago before monoculture was introduced to smallholder farmers. Charity Kwenzani (47), an Agricultural, Technical and Extension (AGRITEX) Officer working with smallholder farmers in ward 10 says Fainos’ can encourage more farmers to increase biodiversity. “We held a field day and we counted 13 crops planted in Fainos’ crop field,” says Charity.
The model of using movable kraals and cattle to fertilise crop fields can be replicated by any smallholder farmer or community. Fainos says it involves enclosing livestock in the crop filed for for approximately seven days. After seven days the kraal is moved. This allows for cattle to urinate and deposit cow dung which increases the soil fertility. The cattle will also use their hooves to loosen hard capped soils.
Elias Ncube (64) an expert in land and livestock management says the size of the kraal is determined by the number of cattle a farmer has. If the kraal is too big, the cattle will huddle up in one corner.
“The kraal should not be bigger than the number of cattle you have. Every space must be occupied. A cow needs three square metres to sleep. So to establish how big your kraal should be you multiply the number of cattle you have by three. If you want to make a square kraal you then find the square root of your answer. If you want to make a rectangular kraal you find two numbers which when multiplied will give you your answer. However, one can make slight adjustments to increase the kraal especially if the animals are not used to each other. This will give them extra space because they will be fighting, “explains Elias.
Fainos says through Agroecological farming he has found his source of wealth.
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