adminWalter Nyamukondiwa Chinhoyi Bureau
Farmers in Mashonaland West have put 316 000 hectares under maize during the current agricultural season surpassing the target of 250 000 hectares set for the period.
In his state of the province report to the Zanu-PF provincial coordinating committee meeting recently, Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Webster Shamu said the hectarage was more than the 279 000ha planted last season.
The development could cause more storage challenges at most Grain Marketing Board depots in the province which were forced to move grain to other provinces.
Minister Shamu hailed farmers in Mashonaland West for working hard to surpass the target.
“We want to thank our farmers for working hard as they put 316 000ha under maize and if we compare to last year, they had planted 279 000ha at this stage,” he said.
Minister Shamu said at least 167 000ha of the maize was under Government’s Special Maize Import Substitution programme (Command Agriculture).
The Command Agriculture programme together with the Presidential Inputs Scheme have significantly helped to improve Zimbabwe’s maize production.
By July last year, silos at Mhangura, Lion’s Den and Banket in the province, could no longer hold more grain, resulting in it being moved to other provinces.
GMB has more than 80 depots, 12 of which are equipped with silos designed to hold up to 500 000 tonnes of grain.
Lion’s Den silo near Chinhoyi is the world’s third largest having a holding capacity of 104 000 tonnes.
Minister Shamu said farmers had also taken advantage of the rains to plant more sugar beans and soya beans.
“A total of 11 997ha have been put under the crop in Mashonaland West Province this season.”
He, however, raised concern over the rise of incidents of pests, especially the fall armyworm, which was threatening yields.
“We have a major challenge in the province of worms, which are attacking our maize crop. As we inspected several farmers, especially in Mhangura, we noticed that the spread of the pests is quite worrying,” he said.
“This calls for urgent action to fight the pests before they affect our crops and yields. We are, however, pleased that the farmers are getting information on how to fight the pests from our extension workers.”
Mashonaland West Province is the country’s major contributor of agricultural produce due to its weather pattern and good soils.
Online Reporter