THIEVES are stealing green mealies from fields dotted in and around the city thereby threatening urban farmers’ food security.
Following good rains this season, farmers in most parts of
the country are expecting a bumper harvest. To boost their food security, some
Bulawayo residents have turned to urban farming.
Most of these urban farmers have a good maize crop this
season but their new headache are the thieves.
Mr Taurai Mathuthu from Luveve suburb said he was forced to
harvest his maize before it reached maturity because thieves had started
stealing the maize cobs.
Mr Mathuthu who is farming along the Harare-Bulawayo road
told Chronicle that he found almost a hectare of his field left with nothing
after thieves helped themselves to the green mealies.
“I found almost one hectare out of the three hectares with
nothing. I expected to harvest a tonne and above from the fields but this is no
longer the case.
“I was forced to harvest my crop early before it reached
maturity because I was afraid of losing it all to the thieves,” he said.
Mr Mathuthu said some of the maize being sold in town as
green mealies would have been stolen from residents’ fields in and around the
city.
“There is urgent need to stop this rampant theft of our
crops as this is threatening our food security. We don’t want to queue for
mealie-meal as was the case last year after such a good cropping season,” he
said.
Another resident who identified herself only as Mamo from
Emakhandeni suburb said most of the sthieves operated at night.
“Some of these people are stealing because of hunger while
others just want to make money from selling the green mealies. They stole 29
cobs the first time from my field and on the second day they stole 23 and I
suspect it was for their personal consumption,” she said.
Ms Siphathisiwe Gumbo, another farmer from Entumbane suburb
said thieves were even uprooting her groundnuts to check if they were ready.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said
people must not reap where they did not sow.Chronicle
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