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Obert Chifamba
Agri-Insight
ANOTHER season. Another term of hectic planning and preparations. And a season abound with expectations for bountiful harvests!
Such is the mood permeating the entire nation, thanks to the inspiration generated from recent seasons’ bumper harvest attributed to astute planning and close cooperation between the Government, private sector and the generality of Zimbabweans.
It is laudable to note that the country is by now readying itself to start preparations for the 2023/24 cropping season.
Zimbabwe’s cropping season normally starts in the final months of every year and there is already some movement towards getting basic requirements in place before the onset of the next season.
This is a good sign because it will enable farmers to ascertain the quantities of inputs they need or the financial resources they require so that they mobilise everything in time.
The Government has already set its target of 3,7 million tonnes for cereals in line with the current push to ensure the country is food secure while there is also excess for industrial consumption.
The country’s agro-industries thrive on the availability of agricultural products to function at full capacity.
Farmers therefore need to prepare adequately ahead of the season so that they can do the necessary activities in time and make their season successful.
They need to produce enough to meet their domestic requirements and sell the surplus.
The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries and Water and Rural Development’s report on the country’s state of preparedness for the 2023/24 season unequivocally indicated that this year focus was on increased productivity with the target areas for the major crops meant to grow 10 percent.
The thrust is to increase production per unit area, and not to drastically expand the cultivated area, the report said.
The report hinted that a target cereal production of 3 775 72 tonnes, with 3 060 000 tonnes of maize and 715 728 tonnes of traditional grains would be enough to meet the human cereal consumption requirement as well as the requirement of industrial uses and livestock feeds.
These projections can easily fail to materialise if producers do not plan and prepare properly with special attention being paid to what is happening globally both economically and in terms of climate.
Planning ahead of the season will also mean that farmers will not miss important deadlines, for instance, in planting that will allow their crop to utilise important basic requirements such as heat units that are abundantly available at the start of the season and recede as it progresses.
Crops that are planted late because farmers would have been struggling to mobilise resources usually do not perform to their full potential, which deprives the farmers of possible yields and revenue.
Estimates indicate that 70 percent of people in Zimbabwe reside in rural areas and survive on farming with the majority of these people practising subsistence production.
They are into some kind of mixed farming system that allows them to produce both crops and livestock, which enables them to meet their basic food requirements but with the current economic changes making it difficult for most citizens to easily access cash, it is fast becoming crucial for these rural farmers to do activities that help them generate income.
It is therefore critical for such farmers to do their preparations in time so that if it becomes necessary to outsource certain items from their wish-lists, they will have time to do so.
They need inputs such as seed, dipping chemicals, fertiliser, pesticides, herbicides, and farm equipment to identify some of them.
For now, the bulk of them are not struggling to mobilise basic inputs thanks to various support programmes by the Government.
It is, however, important that they broaden their scale of production using resources they would have mobilised on their own and not wait for the Government and development partners to do everything for them.
The push by the Government to have farmers treating their farming enterprises as serious business entities requires them to grow their production levels and ultimately their earnings just like other businesses outside farming.
At the moment, the farmers’ biggest worry is on input mobilisation so the idea of starting preparations for next season way ahead of its starting point makes a lot of sense.
Besides having to contend with the high prices for inputs, the farmers also need to make peace with the subsequent high costs of production that are borne out of the astronomic prices for basic inputs such as seed and fertiliser and other important services.
One other exciting reality that will come out of the move to start preparations early is that stakeholders will get adequate time for consultations on how they can work together or how they can access different services at affordable costs.
This will naturally improve co-ordination and planning for the season, which will benefit the agriculture sector in terms of growth given that it always has targets for each and every season.
There should be notable growth with each season that passes and this is measured through production outputs and the impact it will have on the economy and the lives of the citizens in general.
Early preparations for a new season also allow farmers to appreciate lessons learnt from the previous season. They need to go over their mistakes again and reflect on them to see how they can perfect them for better results.
It gives farmers time to develop ideas on the crops they will be planting and start preparing since different crops have varying needs.
Some need to be planted early whereas others should not be planted until later in the season.
At the same time, certain crops are ready for harvest earlier than others.
That way, farmers can potentially stagger the planting and harvesting, so all the crops will not need the same types of attention at the same times. In the event last year’s crops gave the farmer trouble, the off-season is the best time to think about the issues and how to prevent them next season.
If a crop that needs more sunlight did not fare well in one field the previous season, then the farmer must plan to move it to a different area next time.
If a crop that does not need a lot of moisture failed to thrive in a specific area of the fields, it might have gotten too much moisture hence the need to rotate it to higher ground during the upcoming planting season.
One thing for certain is that every farm has different needs and farmers sometimes have to plan differently from the next chap in line with what they will be dealing with on their farms.
They will need to develop a plan to address potential problems on their farms. Farmers must come up with clear-cut strategies in place for every coming season and be sure their fields and equipment are ready to use when they need them.
Online Reporter