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Masvingo Bureau
Preparations for the forthcoming farming season are at an advanced stage in Masvingo, where nearly 230 000 households have already finished preparing their Pfumvudza/Intwasa plots as the province gears for food security.
This year, the province is targeting over 400 000 households to prepare their Pfumvudza/Intwasa plots, with traditional grains set to dominate the crop menu to be planted in sync with the conditions of agro-ecological conditions in regions 3, 4 and 5 under which most parts of Masvingo fall.
The regions are classified for receiving less rainfall.
Masvingo Provincial Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services acting director Mr Aaron Muchazivepi said preparations for this year’s Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme were going on well.
He disclosed that to date, more than 200 000 farmers had been trained on Pfumvudza/Intwasa which he said was a 100 percent jump on a comparative scale to the same period last year.
“Training of farmers is ongoing across the province and this year the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme will see farmers getting inputs and training according to the requirements of their agro-ecological regions,” said Mr Muchazivepi.
“Masvingo is predominantly region 3, 4 and 5 and this means that we will focus more on traditional grains like sorghum and finger millet.
“To date we have trained 215 150 households under Pfumvudza in the province and compared to the same period last year this is a 100 percent improvement because by this time in 2021 we had trained 127 150 households.”
Mr Muchazivepi urged farmers to continue holing and mulching their plots to conserve moisture once the rains fall.
He revealed inputs that will be distributed under Pfumvudza/Intwasa will also include for a cotton plot for each household.
”Our extension officers that we now call business advisors are working round the clock to register more farmers,” said Mr Muchazivepi.
Masvingo last year made significant inroads towards achieving food sufficiency after a successful agricultural season that was hinged on the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme.
In Matabeleland South, authorities have resolved to distribute inputs to all farming households with five plots and above under the climate-proofed farming commonly known as Pfumvudza/Intwasa as preparations for the 2022/23 summer cropping gather momentum.
The acting provincial director of agricultural development and advisory services, Mr Mkhunjulelwa Ndlovu said the farmers were registered online and the list had been sent to the national data base where logistical issues were being handled.
He said this would ensure they allocate the inputs to all deserving Zimbabweans.
Mr Ndlovu said most of the farmers in the province will receive inputs under the Climate-Proofed Presidential Inputs scheme, mainly traditional grains which do well and the current climatic conditions in the region.
“We have covered the ground in terms of preparations and we will start distributing the inputs to all farming households in the province with five Intwasa plots and above,” he said.
“This time we registered the farmers through a cell phone application and the list has been fed into the national data base. So, we will distribute the inputs based on that list.”
The official said they will start distributing the inputs in the furthest parts of the province to ensure that every farmers accesses the inputs before the start of the first rains.
Starting this year, the government is distributing seed types and varieties under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme depending on the climatic conditions in a particular area.
Matabeleland South falls largely under the agricultural region 5 and the meteorological region 3.
In most cases, farmers need anything above 450 mm of rain per season for crops to do well.
Online Reporter