By Rangarirai Shanyurai
The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development has urged farmers to start planting with the rains that covered most parts of the country this week.
In a statement, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Vangelis Peter Haritatos emphasized the abundance of rainfall and urged farmers to wrap up wheat harvesting swiftly and utilize effective rains for summer planting in order to enhance food security.
“The Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has informed us that the upcoming season is going to be a very good season; normal to above normal rainfall. What we witnessed around the country is an abundance of rainfall in the past week and we have predicted rainfall this whole week. This means that we are in line with going into a summer season that’s going to be much better. Every farmer in Zimbabwe has to be part of the transformation. We need to ensure that this season we catch up and we ensure our country’s food, fibre, oil, and nutrition are all secure.
“This means we need to wrap up our harvesting of wheat. We know that there’s still quite a considerable amount of hectares out there but with these rains we need to now get all combines into the fields and take out as much wheat as we can so that we can get planting into our summer season. As you know, we believe that planting should start with what we deem effective rains. We see most of the country has entered this phase of effective rains and that means that now is the time to start planting as much as possible into the summer crop,” said Haritatos.
He said those who still had wheat in the fields had to make use of dryers and deliver the grain to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB)
“So if you still have a wheat crop, please utilise our grain dryers and the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). There are a few private players that have grain dryers. Let’s utilise that so we can take our wheat off even if the moisture is a little bit higher. Let’s put them through the grain dryers,” said Haritatos.
Chief Director for ARDAS, Leonard Munamati said this week, widespread rainfall is expected across the country and they advised farmers to start planting after receiving about 20 mm of rain over three days.
“During this week we are going to start receiving wide spread rains across the whole country. We would want to encourage our farmers to make sure that they can start planting as soon as they see that they have received effective rainfall,” said Munamati.
He urged farmers to make use of the Pfumvudza farming method and mulching as well as the use of herbicides.
“To date we have recorded 9.6 million plots that have been prepared by various farmers in the rural provinces. The initial target was 9 million, so we are excited. That gives an area equivalent to about 601 000 hectares and that has been done slightly with about 3 million farmers that have prepared the Pfumvudza plots,” he said.
A survey conducted by TellZim News revealed that some seed houses are now selling a 10 kg bag at a price ranging from US$36 and US$46 up from between US$27 and US$31.
A 25 kg bag now costs between US$68 and US1135 up from last season’s price of US$57 and US$76
Speaking to TellZim News, Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) Masvingo District Chairperson Chrispen Chiuswa expressed concern over seed price hike saying that was affecting farmers and many were waiting for government inputs.
“Seeds are very expensive this season to the majority and some have resorted to buying in groups while the rest are waiting for government inputs as few afford the high cost.
“Despite timely land preparation, the looming seed price crisis may force farmers to reduce their planting areas due to lack of inputs,” he said.
He encouraged farmers to buy small grains and also make use of groups to purchase in bulky as that help reduce costs.
“I urge farmers to unite, leverage group buying cost efficiency for smaller seed packets that is 2kg to 5 kg and consider traditional grains into their farming. Farmers should resort to the growing of small grains because they are affordable.
“By pooling resources and embracing diverse planting strategies they can navigate the challenges posed by unaffordable seed prices and sustain their agricultural activities effectively,” said Chiuswa.
