Chronicle Editor
THE country had a bountiful 2020/2021 agricultural season with record-setting harvests of key crops.
Cumulatively, food crop production rose 189 percent this year on last season’s output. About 2,7 million tonnes of maize were harvested, a big jump from 900 000 tonnes last year. Production of small grains went up 128 percent to nearly 350 000 tonnes compared with last season. Cotton production is estimated at 196 000 tonnes, a 94 percent increase from last season’s level. Soya bean production increased by 51 percent to 71 290 tonnes.
The Government came in strongly with the Pfumvudza/Intwasa conservation scheme, Presidential Input Scheme and National Enhanced Crop Productivity Scheme (known better as Command Agriculture) among other initiatives, which all contributed to the big harvest.
The success is attributable not only to favourable rainfall but also to early and effective preparations on the part of the Government, farmers and providers of the various inputs.
Harvesting of the 2020/2021 crop has basically ended so farmers are at the market now. By the first week of this month, they had sold 629 007 tonnes of maize to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), 11 381 tonnes of soya beans and 64 798 tonnes of traditional grains.
In the next few weeks, the 25th Southern African Climate Outlook Forum will convene to release their rainfall forecast for the 2021/2022 season. We pray the forecast would be a positive one and that the forecast materialises.
As we look forward to the forthcoming season, we are glad that the systems are all set for yet another successful agricultural season. Seed and fertiliser manufacturers are ready with enough stocks to meet demand, the Government has announced as we reported yesterday.
Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, Dr Anxious Masuka said there is enough certified seed maize — 45 720 tonnes — for the national planting target of 1,5 million hectares. More seed is also in stock to cover almost one million ha of traditional grains, 240 000ha of oil seed and 480 000ha of cotton.
Industry and Commerce Minister, Dr Sekai Nzenza said the fertiliser industry had 264 000 tonnes of raw materials to produce 187 000 tonnes of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (NPK) fertiliser and 77 000 tonnes of urea and ammonium nitrate (AN). Work is underway for the industry to produce 375 000 tonnes of NPK fertiliser and 26 000 tonnes of AN with provision for the importation of 200 000 tonnes of top dressing fertiliser.
Said Dr Masuka:
“Seed enough to plant a national hectarage of 972 000ha for various traditional grains and legumes is available for the 2021-22 cropping season. Furthermore, there is certified seed enough to plant an equivalent of 122 000ha of soya beans, 121 000ha of sunflower and 480 000ha of cotton.”
This means that with respect to seed, the country already has enough to plant if effective rains were to fall today while production of fertiliser is on schedule.
We commend the Government and seed and fertiliser manufacturers for working so hard at this stage, more than three months ahead of the anticipated start of the rainy season. This means that any farmer who has money now to buy seed or fertiliser can be able to do so without the fear of running into empty shelves at input stockists. On the other hand, farmers operating under Pfumvudza/Intwasa as well as Command Agriculture have been receiving inputs — seed and fertiliser — over the past few weeks. We feel that growers under this category are well catered for.
We, thus urge self-funding farmers to do their purchases as early as now.
Apart from stocking up on seed, fertiliser, pesticides, herbicides and so on, farmers should be working their land now. Those under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme, for example, should be holing out their pieces of land and probably mulching them too.
With all systems mobilised, we will then look to the skies for favourable rains in the next three or so months. As we wait, our prayer is that the 2021/2022 season would be as wet as the one just behind us so that national food security is guaranteed. But national food security is not good enough for a country which prioritises its agriculture industry like ours: we must begin to export larger volumes of maize, cotton, soya beans, sunflower and traditional grains.
Online Reporter