By Rex Mphisa
AFTER rejection by his own people, Erasmus Marema’s Toppick Citrus Plantation tells a story of a long journey from dust to green and eventually orange!
Marema’s venture can be a biblical story of a prophet not being popular in his own home, but his oranges are a sweeter tale.
Located in the Jompempi Block of Beitbridge West, Toppick Farm faced monumental resistence standing accused of encroaching on reserved grazing land for communal farmers, incidentally from Marema’s home area.
The resistence to occupation was both physical and academic.
Villagers teamed up by night and cut fences while on the other hand an onslaught by the media was consistent.
Villagers from from seven rural wards teamed up and put up a fight alleging the Toppick Ranch was in their livestock was to the Zhovhe Dam for water over and above taking large tracts of “their grazing land”.
The villagers said Marema who is the proprietor of Topic Funeral parlour clandestinely acquired the land and fenced off 16km2 of grazing land, thereby blocking their livestock from accessing water from the dam.
They fiercely resisted Marema’s offer later dated September 24, 2014 offering him 1162.5 hectares, part of Lot 10, an A2 commercial farm.
The unrelenting villagers even enlisted the services of the Provincial Lands Committee (PLC) chaired by then Matabeleland South Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Abednico Ncube, to resolve the disputes.
A team comprising members of the PLC toured the contentious area with a view to coming up with a solution.
Marema was on that day not available and then Matabeleland South Provincial War Veterans chairperson Never Ncube, told more than 100 villagers at the fenced area that it was puzzling how Marema managed to acquire the said land without going through the Beitbridge District and the Matabeleland South Lands committees.
But Marema who had already fenced the area remained resolute keeping his massive plans to his chest.
Today, the success story of his estate is national pride and the once rejected estate has accounted for most visits by top Government officials including vice presidents and several cabinet ministers.
It is that area where Command Agriculture, a state-led contract farming programme in Zimbabwe launched in 2016 to boost food security, reduce grain imports, and support farmers through inputs like seeds and fertilizer, had large tonnages of winter wheat.
Toppick Estate each year produces a large tonnage of maize ground on site for mealie meal commercially distributed across the country.
Under irrigation, the farm has all year round cropping while it also keeps livestock in thousands, holding bull cattle sales periodically.
It also has sheep and goats fed from stockfeed prepared on site.
But it is their citrus venture that has caught the attention of the country and world at large.
The venture has already planted over 110,000 orange trees—including Ben Valencia, Midnight, and Teddy varieties—on 800 hectares, backed by a dedicated water pipeline from Zhovhe Dam.
“We have 800 hectares under oranges. We started planting in March 2021, we are targeting 1000 hectares by 2036,” said Toppick Farm manager Danisa Moyo.
With the oranges in season Marema has advertised for hundreds of positions for seasonal orange pickers to earn R2 400 monthly over and above meals and accommodation.
“Yea we have those temporary posts, we are harvesting,” said Moyo.
The farm employs more people from the same community that resisted the arrival of the farm has become the one reaping the harvests from the same venture they fought against.
An official from a government’s said the advert would be circulated to many returnees who may have been in that field in South Africa from where they have been ejected.