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Tina Musonza-Herald Correspondent
Potato farmers are expected to average 30 tonnes a hectare as they start harvesting their crop, with the best getting around 75 tonnes/ha, a significant jump in yield of 19 percent as they follow better management practice, even with the heavy rains that can be a danger for potatoes.
Potatoes are still king, accounting for millions of dollars a year that contribute to the backbone of the economy and boost farm incomes.
Some farmers have started harvesting, while others plan to harvest this week.
Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services chief director Professor Obert Jiri said potato production had increased this year.
“This year, average potatoes produced is 30 tonnes per hectare and we also anticipate having a marginal increase in area as well,” he said.
“Some individual farmers can get 75 tonnes per hectare. It can be due to good agriculture practices, but when we average out the yields we take into consideration the best and worst farmers.
“We expect that our average will go above 30 tonnes per hectare. Farmers have greatly improved on the selection of seed for high-yielding varieties, embraced soil testing, and used analysis results to determine fertiliser requirements, better management practices, and enhanced pest and enhanced pest and disease control.”
A farmer, Mr Nyongani Botoman, said of his 65 hectares, 21 were ready for harvest.
“We have 65 hectares of potatoes here, 21 hectares were ready by the beginning of January 2023,” he said. “So far we have harvested 14 hectares. The market has been good, especially for the past five days.
“On Monday it was US$4 at Mbare. Thursday it rose to US$8, so we can say this was a good week for the potatoes market. The good market is Mbare. It can take from cuts, smalls, medium up to large potatoes.
“We also deliver to restaurants such as Chicken Inn and supermarkets like Greens in Bulawayo, Choppies in Bulawayo, and Harare as well, but they take only large and medium potatoes, unlike at Mbare.
“The harvest is good compared to last year except that some of them are rotting because of too much water that was sitting on the beds, but actually we are getting 75 tonnes per hectare.”
Mr Botoman was expecting bumper harvests though they were facing challenges that come with heavy rains.
“A summer crop is always challenging,” he said. “From our last summer crop we got 82 tonnes per hectare because we did not have too much rain, unlike this season. We had too much rain in January and December which is why some of them were rotting. We are losing about 0,9 tonne per hectare.
“The rains also attracted a lot of diseases, insects are coming through.”
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In an effort to complement Government’s efforts, local farmers have put confidence strides forward to satisfy local markets, as well as exports.
Mr Botoman urged other farmers to make use of good agricultural practices to protect plants that were not yet harvested during this rainy season.
“I urge all farmers who are doing potatoes to do their routine sprays correctly in time, put preventative chemicals every week and curative chemicals when there is too much rain because some other varieties are tolerant to diseases, but all varieties are affected by pests,” he said.
“What is also important is to scout regularly as soon as you detect pests and diseases, you come up with strong curatives such as folia gold. Though they have encountered some losses, potato farmers confirmed that the market was good and could breach the loss gap, with more profits likely to come out from their farm produce.”
Another farmer who is in potato production in Marondera, Mrs Ruramiso Mashumba, said she was in the midst of harvesting her crop and expecting good returns.
Online Reporter