adminSamuel Kadungure Farming Reporter
FARMERS in Manicaland were this week advised to exploit the current wet spell and continue planting till the end of January.Crop specialists urged those in drier and drought-prone parts of the province to plant drought-resistant small grains crops.
Manicaland has sufficient soil moisture, having received a fair share of rains between December and January this year.
Even the stereotyped dry areas like Chisumbanje, Buhera, outer parts of Makoni, lower parts of Nyanga and Chimanimani and Zimunya-Marange received above normal rains which sufficiently recharged soil moisture.
Agritex head for Manicaland, Mr Godfrey Mamhare this week said farmers must continue planting food crops.
Tobacco transplanting is no longer encouraged as seedlings would have overgrown in the nurseries.
“There are continuous rains in areas such as Headlands, Mayo, Chiendambuya, Nyazura, Rusape, Odzi, Osborne, Honde Valley, Chimanimani and upper parts of Chipinge and Nyanga districts, which are traditionally the province’s food baskets. The season has drifted forward, and we cannot advise farmers to stop planting now. We are urging farmers throughout these areas as well as any other part of the province to continue planting food crops. The 2014 planting season started late and farmers can continue planting till end of January.
“Those in areas that fall under natural regions one to three can plant maize, preferably the short season and drought tolerant maize varieties,” said Mr Mamhare.
Mr Mamhare said farmers in drier and low-lying areas like Buhera, Lowveld and Chisumbanje should not experiment with maize as severe hunger that is spreading like a cancer in these areas was partly because of planting crops (maize) unsuitable for their areas.
Mr Mamhare urged farmers to concentrate on early maturing and drought resistant crops like rapoko, sorghum and pearl millet.
“To those in natural regions four and five we are saying stop experimenting with maize because the danger is that their areas are drought-prone and there is no sufficient water to sustain maize, which is not tolerant to moisture stress.
“Our clarion call is that they stick to drought-resistant crops as we have often seen that in past successive seasons that these areas experience severe crop failure due to early ending of the rainy season. We are encouraging them to move away from the culture of growing crops in areas that are not suitable for the sake of it as this will lead to a severe shortfall in production to meet their annual food requirements. We expect farmers to heed our advice,” he said.
Farmers in these drier areas, who often lack tillage muscle, and wish to plant maize, must then dedicate small portions using the conservation farming method,” he said.
The method is easily affordable and takes advantage of natural ecological processes to conserve moisture, enhance soil fertility, and improve soil structure, and to reduce soil erosion and the presence of diseases and pests.
Conservation farming involves very little soil disturbance, and involves low labour input and its effective utilisation of natural ecological processes.
Decreased rainfall and rising temperatures have thrown many farmers in Buhera and Chisumbanje into confusion. Seasons have become unpredictable making it difficult for farmers to plan properly. Erratic rains have caused crops to wilt before maturity. Climate change experts are placing the blame for the changing weather patterns on the increasing amount of gases in the atmosphere.
Online Reporter