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George Maponga in Masvingo
Harvesting of nearly 600 hectares of wheat grown by Masvingo Development Trust (MDT) in partnership with Tongaat Huletts Zimbabwe in the Lowveld is set to start soon with a bumper crop expected from the venture.
MDT this year partnered Zimbabwe’s sole sugar maker to venture into wheat production and boost the nation’s food security having initially focused exclusively on winter maize farming to cut the nation’s food import bill.
At Mwenezana estates in Mwenezi over 300ha of winter wheat are ready for harvesting while over 200ha of the same crop are ready for harvesting in Chiredzi.
Masvingo Provincial Agritex Officer Mr Aaron Muchazivepi is upbeat about the province’s prospects of a bumper wheat harvest buoyed by yields from Chiredzi and Mwenezana.
He disclosed that the crop was now ready for harvesting with combine harvesters soon expected to to move in.
Mr Muchazivepi said this year,MDT and Tongaat decided to diversify into winter wheat production to boost the nation’s wheat output after the country recorded a bumper maize haul in the last main agricultural season.
The winter wheat will upon harvest be shipped to the GMB depot at Nandi with MDT and Tongaat sharing proceeds that will largely be reinvested in other ventures to engender food security.
Under the MDT/Tongaat partnership the former avails inputs and logistical support while the latter chips in with land and expertise to grow staple grains on fallow land in the Lowveld in winter to help Zimbabwe attain food self-sufficiency.
The grains are produced under irrigation with winter maize production having started after the crippling 1992 national drought.
Online Reporter