By Kudzai Simango
Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development (MOLAFWRD) Masvingo Provincial Agricultural Advisory and Rural Development Services (ARDAS) says is targeting to put 4000 hectares of land under 2024/2025 winter wheat farming in Masvingo Province.
Speaking at a winter wheat preparedness stakeholders meeting at Benjamin Burombo ARDAS Boardroom, Masvingo ARDAS provincial director Courage Mahoya said of the 4000 hectare target, 3147.7 hectares had already been registered.
“The national hectares targeted for winter wheat is 120 000 hectares and for Masvingo province it is pegged at 4000 hectares from Masvingo province.
“From our target 4000 hectares we have 3147.7 hectares already registered under various irrigation schemes across the province which include Nyahombe, Tshovani, Banga, Mushandike among others,” said Mahoya.
Mahoya said the final registered hectarage in the province will be announced end of month as registration is still going on and he urged irrigation schemes and individual winter farmers to register.
“The final registered hectares for winter wheat will come out this month end, preparations are still going on, so I urge all farmers who want to be part of this season’s wheat production to come and register,” said Mahoya.
Mahoya urged wheat farmers not to wait for inputs to start preparing land to avoid delays saying they have to plant at the same time when the inputs are available so that they won’t incur costs of hiring harvesters individually since the machines will be directed to one district at a time.
“It is good for farmers to start land preparation even if there are no seeds and fertilizers, this year farmers should plant at the same time especially those with large tracts of land so that when it is harvesting time, combine harvesters are directed to their fields,” said Mahoya.
ARDAS specialist Jonas Chinyavada said the target for this season’s winter wheat is not only to increase hectares but production as much focus is on land preparation and planting.
“We inherited many challenges from last season combined with drought resulting in lack of feed for livestock so it is likely we are going to have a challenge for draught power for small scale farmers.
“This year we are aiming to increase both hectares and production and we are already focusing on land preparation next stage being planting.
“Registration and training processes for winter wheat farmers by ARDAS is underway and flowing smoothly,” said Chinyavada.
Compound D and Top dressing fertilizers were said to be available at different GMB depots and farmers were urged to make sure they use seed from trusted seed providers as last year some used from untrusted sources and that affected plant’s growth and output.
Farmers who were yet to be paid their dues from last year’s outputs were promised that their money will be paid in full by end of April.
This year from seven districts in Masvingo province there are eight individual farmers, two institutions and 56 irrigation schemes registered for winter wheat cropping.
