adminSamuel Kadungure Senior Agriculture Reporter
The District Development Fund Manicaland has completed the repair of six tillage tractor units that have since been designated for the Zunde raMambo tillage programme, targeting 31 chiefs.
DDF Manicaland head, Mr Robert Chawatama, said they were still repairing five tractors and their tillage components.
Mr Chawatama added that DDF has so far ploughed 120ha for 33 families for a fee.
“The six tractors and their units are up and running, while work on the remaining five should be through by Friday (today). We have already started offering tillage services for the Zunde raMambo programme where we are ploughing a hectare for each of the 31 chiefs in Manicaland.
“We are also leasing out our tractors to individual farmers with 120ha having been ploughed for 33 families in the province. We expect the pace to double with the completion of the other five tractors. Each tractor will have a target of a hectare per day,” said Mr Chawatama.
The Zunde raMambo concept was popularised by the late Chief Makoni Naboth Gandanzara, as a traditional social security arrangement designed to address the contingency of drought or famine.
Zunde raMambo, loosely translated refers to the chief’s granary.
Traditional custom requires the chief in any given locality to designate land for growing food crops as protection against food insecurity in the community.
Members of the community provide their labour on a voluntary basis even though they do not all necessarily benefit directly from the harvest.
Members of the community take turns to participate in the entire production process from ploughing and sowing to weeding and harvesting.
The harvest is stored in granaries at the chief’s homestead as food reserves, which will be distributed to the chief’s subjects only in the event of food shortages.
DDF Manicaland received $10 000 and an assortment of spare parts to repair at least 11 broken down tractors.
DDF is failing to meet or exceed tillage demand from farmers in Manicaland as most of its tractors and equipment are grounded.
At its peak in 2007 and 2008, DDF Manicaland, had at least five operational tractors per district, but its efficiency gradually deteriorated to the current level of having only four tractors in the whole province.
The DDF is charged with the responsibility of providing and maintaining rural infrastructure within the communal, resettlement and small-scale commercial farming areas of Zimbabwe.
It is funded by Government, but of late resources have not been coming as expected due to the current economic meltdown.
Zimbabwe’s economy is anchored on agriculture and Government is making efforts to improve the effectiveness of DDF and other tillage players as well as developing partnerships between them.
DDF would be able to assist a lot of farmers with land preparation. DDF charges 30 litres of fuel per hectare for the dry rate and $45 to till a hectare of land. It charges $30 to disc a hectare.
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.
The Meteorological Services Department in Zimbabwe has already forecast a late start to the 2015 /16 rain season for the whole country.
The 2015 /16 season is expected to be short, starting in December and ending in February next year.
The Meteorological Services Department’s forecast follows the Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF)’s prediction that there will be normal to below normal rains in the whole Southern African region.
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