adminIn response to the article ‘Where is an agric extension officer when you need one?’ published in The Herald Business October 25, the Zimbabwe Agricultural Professional and Technical Association feels the need to provide a response.The extension worker is still tasked to give technical advice to farmers, this hasn’t changed.
The technical information he gives has resulted in a lot of tobacco buyers flocking into the country season after season for Zimbabwe’s voluminous and high quality tobacco.
For a good work in horticultural production visit market places like Mbare Musika, Chikwanha or Lusaka in Highfield where you will appreciate the work of an extension officer. Of late we have experienced horticultural crops flooding the market throughout the year. This clearly shows that technical information is being imparted to farmers and yielding positive results.
This is done not by anyone else but the extension officer the article seems to be undermining.
On livestock production visit places like Quala in Chitungwiza, Surray towards Marondera from Harare, just to mention but a few.
Very serious and high production is evidenced there. Production of poultry and cattle are at full throttle throughout the country. Do you know that we were one of the best producers of cotton? Farmers have been taught gross margin analysis by that Mudhumeni and therefore only because of the prices they are not producing.
On the use of Aluminium Phosphate tablets, farmers have been taught on this. I would want to believe that it’s a desperate approach by the farmer on his own in an effort to kill a problematic storage pest called Large Grain borer.
We don’t want to nationalise a single case from a stubborn and adamant farmer. There are three farmers in any society 1)early adopters 2) wait and see 3) Laggards. Laggards are those farmers no matter what you do they will not change. You can call for a training and tell them that they will be paid but still they will not come for that training. In society, there are always such farmers who experiment things. It’s unfair to shift the blame to an extension officer.
A lot of farmers have been trained on Post Harvest Losses where organisations mainly Agritex, Chemical companies and Researchers have come up with some trainings and trials demonstrating on efficiency of various chemicals on different storage pests
Yes in any organisation there are hard working people and there are also lazy ones. Those below average are monitored and there are always mechanisms to improve them. Truly it is bad to devote more attention to their plots if anything of that sort is happening.
The majority of our farmers know rainfall distribution in their respective areas. On this one their indigenous knowledge is sharp. They are quite aware of which crops and varieties they can grow. It is only the climate variability that is tricky now. The gospel of small grains has been preached time and again.
However according to farmers, it’s pointless to have tonnes and tonnes of small grains that nobody will buy. It has been established that sadza from small grains is not palatable.
If an individual doesn’t prefer sadza from rapoko why would you say extension worker did not do his job?
Dumisani Muvishi is the president of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Professionals and Technical Association.
Online Reporter