The owner of the Umguza farm is Mrs Nkiwane who has the title deeds to the property. The farm employs 4 full time workers and up to 10 seasonal workers in peak season.
The farm is 17 kilometers North West of Bulawayo just off the A8 which is the main road to Victoria Falls. Bulawayo International Airport is 37 km from the farm via Bulawayo city center
40 hectares of the farm is leased to a commercial potato farmer and 7 hectares is farmed by the owners son, Kenny Nkiwane , to grow a variety of crops for the fresh vegetable market in Bulawayo- These include tomatoes, butternut, cabbage, onion and beetroot. The farm has water rights to the Umguza Dam irrigation scheme, however, the water is badly polluted and the water level is too low to allow irrigation currently due to the existing drought. Water from an old borehole is used sparingly to irrigate crops using drip and small overhead sprinklers.
Energy in Zimbabwe is a serious problem for the country. Extensive use of firewood leads to deforestation and the electricity production capacity is too low for the current level of consumption. Zimbabwe has one hydropower plant and four coal-fired generators that produce a total combined capacity of 2,240 megawatts. The capacity of the hydro scheme at Kariba is 1050MW but due to the low level of the dam the current generating capacity is only 215MW ( https://www.newsday.co.zw/local-news/article/200031810/more-dark-days-aheadas-kariba-faces-shutdown (MW).[ https://venturesafrica.com/zimbabwes-centragrid-makes-plans-to-scale-up-solar-output/] Only 79.9% of the population have access to electricity for energy.
Due to unreliable electricity supply, the farm’s choice of crops is restricted to cultivars that do not require processing or cooling. With access to energy and cooling, a larger variety of crop will be considered.
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