adminMercy Ngwebvu
Despite the dry spell which affected Manicaland and the rest of the country owing to climate change, Chief Misheck Mutasa’s farm in Mutasa district was a different case and was named the best farm in the area at a field day held at his homestead last week.Asked how the Chief managed to have the best crop, one of the chief’s sons, Lovemore Tendai Mutasa singled out flood irrigation as one of the factors which helped their crop to thrive.
“We started our land preparation right after last year’s harvest and all the maize rusks served as manure later in the planting season.
“We planted with the first rains on January 5. We later faced challenges as the maize was germinating because of a 53-day dry spell which hit the area.
“However, flood irrigation saved our crop and it went a long way in helping the soil retain moisture. We later applied 16 bags of top dressing after four weeks.
“Mutasa area later had a wet spell which lasted for 21 days. During this time, most farmers were affected by weeds but we used Stella star herbicide to fight the weeds and our crop thrived. We have a total of five hectares from which we are expecting some 12 tonnes of maize,” he said.
Another factor which contributed to the chief emerging the best was the fact that he is very strict about record keeping. This was useful when checking the profit and loss scales. It also helped in rectifying mistakes that were made in the previous season.
Also at the field day, a representative from Seed Co, Dumisani Mapungwana said that it was of paramount importance for people to understand the agro-economical zones as they determined the type of seed they would use.
“Most people’s yields are affected because they use the wrong seed when planting. For instance, people in wet regions should use late maturity maize seed while those in dry regions should always opt for early maturity maize seed. This will compensate for the little rainfall they receive as well as the fact that this seed is drought resistant,” he said.
Mapungwana also said that Seed Co recently introduced another 300 series early maturity hybrid as a way of combating the unpredictable weather patterns that were being caused by climate change.
“We now have a new maize variety which is called the Hare (tsuro) which matures very fast and is suited for dry regions. It is mostly suitable for natural region 5 and matures in two and a half to three months such that a farmer in region 2 or 3 can start with their 500 or 600 series and later plant the 300 series as the region becomes drier,” added Mapungwana.
He also emphasised on the need for crop assessment and soil sample testing by farmers as a way of ensuring that inputs are applied as per the soil’s need.
Of the five hectares at Chief Mutasa’s farm, four had Pannar seed while the other hectare had Seed Co maize variety SE627.
Online Reporter