adminIT is an undeniable fact that agriculture is the economic bedrock of Zimbabwe, traditionally accounting for 16 percent of Gross Domestic Product and providing a source of livelihood for about 75 percent of the country’s population. The agriculture sector also accounts for 60 percent of raw materials to the manufacturing sector. September is gone, and preparations for the 2015/16 summer cropping season should be underway across the country.
It is at this juncture that farmers should be fully prepared and put their act together for the next crop.
It’s either now or never.
By now every farmer should be aware that the country will receive rains ranging from below normal to normal. This calls for early planting, and those who will miss the early rains, will certainly be out of the game.
This is why we insist that planning beforehand helps farmers to best manage risk and work towards achieving set targets.
The Treasury must be thanked for releasing funds to clear what the country owed farmers for the deliveries made in the 2014/15 season. At least farmers have somewhere to start from.
We also implore the private sector, Government together with its development partners to come on board and assist with the financial, technical and infrastructural resources.
Seed, fertiliser and chemical companies should play the ball in good faith.
These inputs should be enough to meet the requirement of farmers. They should be readily available, at affordable prices and within the vicinity of the farmers across the country.
Inputs should be at every farmer’s doorstep so that farmers don’t waste time, and incur additional costs to purchase inputs in towns at exorbitant prices.
We also advise against last minute rushes to import top-dressing fertiliser.
Why should top-dressing fertiliser always remain a challenge in terms of availability and its cost?
Why are our inputs always expensive? Inputs producers should not sacrifice business ethics of fairness to exploit farmers.
This inflates the cost of production for the local farmers.
Our farmers are always at the receiving end. They have been getting a raw deal. The net effect is that they have 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.
What makes the Zimbabwean fertiliser more special and very expensive than that from Malawi?
Zimbabwe needs to seriously interrogate the cost of inputs if we are, as a nation, attain the required food and nutritional security levels, fill our strategic grain reserves and produce surplus for the export market.
Farmers should find an alternative, especially manure, compost or mutsakwani, instead of these expensive compound fertilisers.
We would also like to call upon Government speed up the capacitation of DDF as this will go a long way to alleviate the rural farmers’ draught power problems.
Farmers should access tillage services on time.
We would also like to urge farmers to take agronomical advice seriously.
For instance, farmers in dry regions should cultivate stronger plants which are resistant to climate change. They should also be more organised and adopt modern farming techniques such as conservation farming which has proved highly beneficial in dry regions. Farmers also need to adopt good field management practices and improve seed stocks, with drought-resistant varieties.
Farmers must also 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.
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.
Online Reporter