adminSamuel Kadungure Agriculture Reporter
THE first plantings of Manicaland’s summer crops has struggled to surpass the 50 000 hectares as stakeholders in the province express concerns about the drive to promote small grains and drought tolerate varieties in hot regions of the province.
A provincial food security and nutrition cluster report tabled at the Minister of Provincial Affairs Interactive End of Year Meeting by Mr Joseph Mukajami , of Agritex, painted a gloomy picture and torched a storm after announcing that the province had received only 14 tonnes of sorghum under the Presidential Input scheme.
The province has so far received 14t of sorghum, 188t of cotton seed, 286t of Compound L, 1 215t of Compound D, 271t of seed maize and 1 424t of AN/Urea fertilisers.
Mr Mukajami said that the cumulative planted area for all crops in the province was estimated at 38 697ha against a target of 355 515ha.
So far 26 428ha of maize have been planted out of the targeted 229 960, sorghum was at 3 237 against a target area of 57 085ha; rapoko was at 2 475ha against a target area of 24 620ha and mhunga was at 6 557ha against a target area of 43 850ha.
The sluggish pace in planting was attributed to the late rain, high coast of inputs and low yields expected following a localised rainfall forecast by the Meteorological Services Department (MSD) pointing to the late start of the season with indications that for the period January to March 2016, Manicaland, among other parts of the country were likely to receive below normal rainfall.
The period spanning October to December 2015, Manicaland received way below normal rain. A regional outlook issued by the SADC Climate Services Centre in August indicated that most mainland SADC countries, including Zimbabwe, would receive between normal to below normal rainfall.
“This is how things are in Manicaland, and Agritex we are encouraging farmers to plant short season varieties, employ good agricultural practices and embrace new farming technologies. Solution to agricultural challenges in Manicaland lies with the establishment of irrigation,” said Mr Mukajami.
In her response, Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Mandi Chimene felt Government was paying lip service to the promotion of small grains in dry regions.
“There is hunger in Manicaland, the people are starving, and the rains are upon us, but Government is not doing walking the talk on small grains. What is 14t of sorghum?
“Where can that take us? That is too insignificant given the vulnerability of the rural population. We really have to interrogate the seriousness on small grains.
“We have areas like Bocha and Buhera which grow pearl millet, but nothing has distributed. What message are we putting across to those vulnerable groups?” asked Cde Chimene, adding that Agritex should make an urgent request for its allocated share of small grains and give her feedback.
One would have expected the delayed onset of the rains to trigger expeditious planting of main crops such as maize, cotton, sorghum, millet, potatoes, ground and round nuts, but this has not turned out to be the case.
Instead the pace has been slower due alternation between rain and hot weather, a feat that become that hallmark of the delayed start to the past two rainy seasons.
The rain marking the start of the 2015/16 summer cropping season has been so inconsistent and tough such that the province has dried out.
During the 2014/15 season, Manicaland failed to attain planting target and instead, planted 192 238ha under maize, 42 521 (sorghum), 18 387 (finger millet), 37 387 (pearl millet), 8 387 (cotton), 54 751 (ground nuts) 24 610 (tobacco), 8 270 (beans), 486 (soya beans) 2836 (potatoes) and 910 (wheat) and since then nothing has changed for better to inspire confidence in farmers apart from the worsening economic challenges.
Drier parts of the province like Chisumbanje, Buhera, outer parts of Makoni, lower parts of Nyanga and Chimanimani and Zimunya-Marange have not received consistent rain to spur confidence among farmers.
These areas have been identified as the ‘hot spots’ of suffering with the largest prevalence of malnourishment. These areas are in the semi-arid and dry sub humid hydro-climates where rain-fed agriculture is the dominating source of food and where water constitutes a key limiting factor to crop growth.
Online Reporter