Made on small grains

delegates attending the Rattray Arnold Research Field Day in Shamva, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made said the seed imports will be limited to a particular time frame that allowed the industry space to come up with a local solution.
Regional delegates from Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Swaziland and Mozambique attended the occasion that also drew farmers from all the Mashonaland,  Midlands and Manicaland provinces.
“It is time the country adopts crop diversification and accommodates small grains on a very serious note as a mitigating measure against the effects of climate change.
“Climate change is for real so I would like to see all our technical departments working with seed houses to find an appropriate response to the related problems,” said Minister Made.
He lamented the fact that Government and companies such as Seed Co had invested a lot in assisting farmers with both agronomic and appropriate crop seeds were still averaging less than a tonne per hectare.
“Following the rolling out of the land reform programme, Government’s major objective now is to ensure that our agricultural sector increases its productivity to achieve food sufficiency for the country,” said Minister Made.
Minister Made also took the opportunity to unveil Seed Co’s two new seed varieties SC727 and SC637 that are reputed for scoring 18 and 17,5 tonnes per hectare respectively.