By Gay Matambo
THE uptake of garlic production has gone up in Zimbabwe with youths from Chiredzi confident that their lives will be transformed for the better through the cash crop.
The programme is expected to drive rural development in line with the objectives of attaining an upper middle-income society by 2030.
“This garlic project will assist us as youths who are into farming, and the youths who are hardworking but do not have anything to do. This project is going to uplift us as youths,” a youth said.
“The project is going to empower most youths who are interested in garlic farming so I would like to thank the MP for the opportunities that is going to uplift the lives of the youths,” noted another.
The project, which will see close to 500 youths benefitting is also expected to reduce unemployment as alluded to by local legislator Honourable Farai Musikavanhu.
Said Hon Musikavanhu: “I decided to embark on a garlic project with a view to grow a certain tonnage, we have three tonnes of garlic that we put in to empowerment packs of 30 kgs each, which I’m going to give for free to youth clusters in the constituency so that they can partner with farmers who have access to irrigation and they can start with a minimum of a quarter of a hectare to half a hectare planted end of February harvested in September.”
Garlic production in Zimbabwe increased by close to 600 percent last year as demand for the crop soared globally due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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