Farmers urged to expedite wheat harvesting

Judith Phiri, Business Reporter

THE Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development has called on farmers to expedite wheat harvesting in view of impending rains.

Heavy rains can damage, to varying degrees, wheat that is ready for harvest or has been harvested but not brought under shelter.

In a statement, the Ministry’s Department of Agricultural Engineering, Mechanisation and Soil Conservation said the country was expected to receive rains in the first week of November.

“In light of this development, all wheat farmers are being advised to expedite harvesting of their winter wheat crops by all means available. Please get in touch with your cluster leadership to organise and schedule combine harvester and grain drying services immediately to save the winter wheat,” read part of the statement.

The Government availed 55 combine harvesters that were distributed across the country under the Cluster Winter Wheat Harvesting Programme aimed at improving production efficiency while also preparing for a swift shift to summer cropping.

The cluster harvesting model entails having a combine harvester deployed to a particular area where it will be used before being shifted to a new site.

Out of the 55 combine harvesters, five were deployed to Matabeleland region well on time to ensure adequate harvesting as well as reduce any potential losses from delayed harvesting.

The intervention comes at a time when Zimbabwe is targeting to achieve another bumper harvest this year after it increased the total hectarage, building on the milestone achieved last year.

Zimbabwe is expected to harvest around 430 000 tonnes of wheat this season, which will result in a large surplus since the country requires 360 000 tonnes per annum for its bread and confectionery requirements.