Zambian farmer Misheck Munyamani reaps Agriculture Diversification benifit

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Misheck Munyamani reaps
Agriculture Diversification benifit

By Ashton Kelly Bunda and Derrick Sinjela

THEY say life begins at 40, but with just a year before he attains that age threshold, Misheck Munyamani a farmer of Mulela village in Shibuyunji District of Central Province is already enjoying his life.

Mr. Munyamani’s journey to success is a unique one as the magnitude of his excellence in Agriculture business is mainly attained by the aged who in most cases are retirees.

Born and bred in Mulela village, within Senior Chief Shakumbila area, Mr. Munyamani’s name is now a household one in the area, as his livestock and crop enterprise is feeding and creating sustainable incomes for people.

A father of 15 children from two wives, Mr. Munyamani has over 300 cattle, 120 hacters of tomatoes, 70 hacters of fresh maize, an active fish pond, countless number of small livestock,a hammer mill and mechanised farming activities.

According to Mr. Munyamani, he started as a small farmer in 2000, with only 25 lines of tomatoes containing 7,000 plants whose first yields gave him the motivation to expand his production and was also able to diversify his agricultural activities.

A visit to one of the Munyamani Farms, found the farmer’s first wife Margaret attending to scores of women who troop from Lusaka, a one and a half hour drive to Mulela village to order the fresh maize for reselling in the capital city.

35-year-old Margaret, explained that hard work and working collaboratively with her husband is the reason behind their success in the agriculture sector and that apart from the present activities going on at their two farms which are just a few meters apart, they look to embark on producing many more crops; watermelon and pumpkins to name but two.

At the time Margaret was supervising the winter maize farm, Mr. Munyamani was at the other farm overseeing the performance or operation of a group of 34 farm workers, as they harvested tomatoes in readiness for sale the next day in Lusaka.

Mr. Munyamani explained that he has been able to survive teething challenges encountered in his farming business due to the diversification policy he has adopted, as it is disastrous for one to put all eggs in one basket.

Munyamani says sometimes when one area of production is performing poorly, he gets money earned from other profitable ventures to boost the affected section in his enterprise.

18-year-old Sipiwe Munyamani is Mr. Munyamani’s daughter and his already in tune with the agriculture enterprise at her parents farm and helps in either looking at the huge hectarage of either maize and tomatoes as well as livestock at the farm.

Like father and mother, Ms. Sipiwe Munyamani would rather remain at the farm than in a glittering city where her father owns a number of houses, plans to study agriculture having completed school last year, once learning opens at the University of Zambia (UNZA) Great East Road campus.

 

As for Mr. Munyama, his next plan is to procure a centre pivot as he plans expand his production just as the tomatoe field is powered by electric generation.