PPPs alive in Beitbridge

The community empowerment process through the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) is being realised in Tongwe, Beitbridge, with irrigation farmers going into partnerships with seed houses, banks and non-governmental organisations for the production of sugar bean seed.

the transformation of irrigation schemes is taking shape in beitbridge as farmers go into partnerships with seed houses under contract farming for seed multiplication and high value crops, making them commercially viable.

One such project is the tongwe irrigation scheme, where a local seed company has gone into a partneeship with local farmers for sugar bean seed production. The crop which is at flowering stage is set to earn the farmers high returns compared to the usual system where only maize is grown.

In an interview with KFM  news, an agronomist with the seed company Mr John Basera said the partnership is a process of empowering small holder irrigation farmers through contract farming where apart from the provision of seed and fertiliser, the market is assured from the onset.

Mr Basera said the partnership has empowered communal farmers to the level of being stakeholders in seed production, adding that Beitbridge has the ideal climatic conditions for seed production where areas with water bodies are benefiting.