adminSamuel Kadungure Senior Farming Reporter
A SUCCESSFUL farming season begins long before the planter — it starts with a smart plan.
Planning beforehand helps farmers to best manage risk and work towards achieving set targets.
While Manicaland has set its target for the 2015 /16 season at last season, the need for Government to provide an enabling environment through clear policy goals and commensurate investments in infrastructure, mechanisation, training, education and information cannot be underestimated.
In the same vein, the private sector and development partners must come on board and assist with the financial resources side of it, as well as the facilitate the distribution of inputs at fair prices as closer to the farmers as possible.
Absence of these will continue inflicting the farming sector and if these factors are not addressed, plans for the province, as revealed by its chief agronomist, Mr Godfrey Mamhare that 240 000 hectares will be put under maize, 23 000ha (tobacco), 56 150ha (sorghum), 24 750ha (finger millet), 43 300ha (pearl millet), 32 910ha (cotton), 67 420 (ground nuts), 13 425ha (beans), 1 599 (wheat) and 3 400 (potatoes) will remain a mirage.
This is so because nothing much has changed to inspire confidence in farmers apart from the worsening economic challenges.
Considering that last season the province failed to hit the same target and instead, planted 192 238ha under maize, 42 521 (sorghum), 18 387 (finger millet), 37 387 (pearl millet), 8 387 (cotton), 54 751 (ground nuts) 24 610 (tobacco), 8 270 (beans), 486 (soya beans) 2836 (potatoes) and 910 (wheat), what makes us so sure that this time around the target will be achieved.
August 2015 is coming to an end and on September 1, 2015, tobacco farmers will start planting the irrigated crop. This officially marks the start of the 2015 /16 season.
September is an important month because it is when most farmers prepare and put their act together for the next crop.
A number of factors — natural and man-made — will come into play and influence the success or failure of the 2015 /16 season.
What do we need to do as a nation to ensure that we attain the required food and nutritional security levels, fill our strategic grain reserves and produce surplus for the export market.
It is said those: “Who fail to plan are preparing to fail”.
With proper planning Zimbabwe can attain its yesteryear “bread basket of Africa” status.
Decisions have to be made, no matter how radical and painful.
After all “wrought iron” was produced from the furnace.
Blame the weather at last, not first.
With proper planning and co-ordination Zimbabwe by now will be able to project the production chances of the approaching season unlike being caught flatfooted always.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union executive director, Mr Paul Zacharia, argued that farmers, the private sector and Government should own up to their mandatory and complimentary roles if the nation was to get out of the current quagmire.
“There are certain things that we need to straighten up as a nation so that we revive our agriculture, otherwise the 507 110ha target for Manicaland or any other province will remain a mirage in the sky.
“The first thing that we require for a successful farming season is the financial resources. We need a smooth process where farmers access financial resources. Banks should be adequately capitalised and capacitated to finance agriculture at commercial level. No farmer can produce at commercial level with own resources. That requires borrowing,” said Mr Zacharia.
Secondly, Mr Zacharia said, inputs must be readily available at the right cost to meet the requirements of farmers.
“Why do we always do last minute rushes to import top-dressing fertiliser? Why is top-dressing fertiliser always a challenge in terms of availability and its cost? The cost of our inputs gives the cost of production too much weight.
What the farmers are getting in Zimbabwe is a raw deal and they are not motivated to produce. Why is the cost of production always high in Zimbabwe when compared to neighbouring countries like Malawi, Zambia, Botswana or South Africa? Fertiliser is fertiliser and what makes the Zimbabwean fertiliser more special and very expensive than that from Malawi?” decried Mr Zacharia.
Needless to say, the Government must provide an enabling environment through clear policy goals and commensurate investments in infrastructure, mechanisation, training, education and information.
Agritex needs to be capacitated in terms of training and numbers. It has a current ratio (extension worker and farmers) of 1:400.
That is unacceptable since the extension workers are also not adequately resourced.
“They are not mobile and not motivated to work. In most cases they ask for fuel from farmers. They ask farmers to meet the travelling costs and what happens when a farmer fails to meet the costs is everyone’s guess,” said a farmer who refused to be named.
Tobacco Association of Zimbabwe president, Mr David Mutasa, said the market was also a factor.
“Farmers produce for a market and if the Zimbabwe market remains as depressed as it is, then who will the farmers sweat to produce for? The prices offered by our market are a pittance and parasitic when compared to other markets in the region. If you tally the inputs and production costs and what one gets at the end of the season you will realise that it is nothing short of a raw deal.
“Profitability of agriculture in Zimbabwe is heavily compromised, even tobacco farmers are not making any profits,” said Mr Mutasa.
Mr Zacharia said there was need for a clear national plan if Zimbabwe was to meet its cereal requirement.
He said the nation production capacity had nosedived from an average of three tonnes to 0,8 tonnes of maize per hectare. At the current production level, Zimbabwe will have to plant at least two million hectares of land to meet the country’s cereal requirements.
“At a ratio of 1:1 we need at least to plant two million hectares. We should improve our national average to 1,5 or two tonnes which will give us between three to four million tonnes against a national requirement of 1,8 metric tonnes.
The surplus will then fill our strategic grain reserves as well as the export market. What we are failing is to get our matrix right. Government should support with infrastructure development such as irrigation, feeder roads and a working railway system.
“The private sector should come on board and support with the working capital to buy inputs and pay labour costs. With all that in place the farmers should be able to produce,” said Mr Zacharia, adding that farming calls for thorough preparedness and hard work.
Mr Zacharia reminded farmers that land preparation was key to achieving the target adding that farmers — big and small — must be midway or through with land tillage by now. Land preparation is crucial as it determines the quality of harvest. That makes it a pre-requisite for a good yield.
Its advantage is that it loosens the soil, making it easy for the plants’ roots to penetrate. Early ploughing also helps the circulation of air in the soil, which is essential for plant germination and growth. Good land preparation practice involves taking care of the soil to ensure it contributes to increased farm productivity.
In an effort to alleviate the rural farmers’ draught power problems as well as improve the agricultural production Government this year capacitated the District Development Fund’s Tillage unit to provide on hire tractors for mechanical tillage throughout the year.
The tractors are to till for needy communal, resettlement and commercial farmers for 30 litres of fuel per hectare for the dry rate and $45 to till a hectare of land or $88 for wet rate.
The dry rate is when the farmer provides fuel and pays for the tillage per hectare while the wet rate is when DDF provides both fuel and the tillage service.
“We have been given assurance that DDF equipment would be on the ground and farmers should be utilising that facility. It is the responsibility of farmers to prepare the land,” said Mr Zacharia.
Farmers must work with agronomists to determine which conditions will have the biggest impact on crop growth and success.
Farmers must bear in mind that, as a result of climatic disturbances, the period of dry and rain seasons are now both six months, a deviation from past trends where the rainy season used to last eight months while the dry season was four months. This situation should not confuse them but make them resilient to climate change.
For instance, farmers in dry regions should cultivate stronger plants which are resistant to climate change.
They should also be organised, avoid traditional systems of cultivation and adopt some modern techniques. The farmers must adopt good land management practices and improve seed stocks, with drought-resistant varieties.
Farmers must adopt “climate-smart agriculture” which will help make crops resilient to harsh effects of climate change. In order for our farmers to be productive and ensure food security, they need to build resilience to help them mitigate the onset of climate change.
Online Reporter