Chronicle Editor
Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
THE Government has started the crop and livestock assessment in the Midlands Province to ascertain the effects of the prolonged dry spell.
In an interview, Midlands Provincial Crop and Livestock officer Mrs Madeline Magwenzi said the exercise should be complete by the end of this month.
“The assessment guides policy makers on how to handle the situation. They can make informed decisions out of the assessment,” she said.
Many farmers here have been replanting, some for the third time, as the province has been receiving some rains in the past week.
The Midlands Province has been receiving erratic rains since the start of the 2019-20 farming season which has seen crops wilting, hence the replantings.
Mrs Magwenzi said crops in the province, especially maize, had wilted due to the prolonged dry spell but some farmers were still hopeful and were in the process of replanting.
“We have teams from my office that have been doing crop assessment in the province and the reports we are getting are that the farmers are not tiring. Most of them have started planting again despite the fact that it’s the second time their crops have wilted after planting,” she said.
Mrs Magwenzi said livestock were also likely to be affected in most parts of the province where grazing pastures were already dwindling.
She said the province lost over 6 000 herd of cattle to date due to dwindling pastures adding that farmers were failing to buy supplementary feed.
“So, we have cattle dying because of lack of pastures. The hardest hit districts are Mberengwa and Gokwe North. Therefore, we urged farmers in the hard-hit areas to consider de-stocking to minimise losses,” said Mrs Magwenzi.
Online Reporter