Craig urges farmers to prepare for new season

agricultural season to take advantage of the first rains.
Speaking in Harare last week, Mr Craig said preparations for next season should have started immediately after harvesting the 2011 crop.
“Farmers should have done their winter ploughing just after harvesting their crops to allow soils to trap moisture and at the same time utilise crop residues.
“After marketing produce, farmers should also draw their budgets and secure all the necessary inputs and do repairs of vital infrastructure and equipment,” said Mr Craig.

On inputs, Mr Craig warned farmers against buying seed and fertilisers from unauthorised sources, saying they risked buying fake material that would ruin their production plans.
He said that farmers needed to do maintenance works on their implements and replace worn out parts in the process.

The other important thing farmers should do is repair irrigation infrastructure so that it is ready for use in the event that the new season experiences dry spells that may make it necessary for irrigation.
It is also at this point that farmers should, where necessary, buy additional implements and even more livestock units to boost their draught power ahead of the new season.

Supplementary feeding of livestock, in particular cattle, is also vital so that they are in good shape for the new season.
“Dry seasons are normally devoid of nutritive feeding for animals so the farmer must go the extra mile and try to provide the missing diet components through supplementary feeding,” he added.

Mr Craig also said those farmers who used animal and natural manure to improve their soils should also be adding the stuff to the soil and ploughing it underneath to give it time to rot and protect it from weather elements as well.

“Most resource poor farmers in rural areas use organic manure either from animal droppings or dead plant or crop matter and sometimes composts to improve the soil structure. So such farmers should at this time be applying that manure or even preparing to do so,” he added.

He also challenged farmers to use the little financial resources they had to buy inputs and not wait for those from Government programmes as they at times came late, well into the season.