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The deadline for winter wheat planting was 15 May and a visit to some of the farms in Umguza farming area in Matabeleland North on Tuesday showed that farmers had not yet planted wheat.
The farmers’ hope now is the $20 million Winter Wheat Scheme launched by the Government last month although it has not been accessible because of the red tape involved in accessing the funds.
Farmers’ organisations expressed pessimism, saying farmers would not be able to source inputs without financial assistance and as a result there would be no winter wheat.
Speaking in separate interviews, leaders of the organisations said the situation was already showing signs of a shortage of wheat in the country.
Mr Donald Khumalo, the president of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union said without financial assistance, farmers would not have the capacity to plant because of the cost of inputs.
“We had hoped the $20 million announced by the Government would come, but until today we have not seen it. Some had borrowed seed from Seed Co but they would not afford fertiliser and irrigation costs, the most expensive inputs,” said Mr Khumalo.
He appealed to the Government to prioritise wheat as a national grain crop.
“Wheat is part of the grain crops and the Government must assist. We are already outside the planting dates and I do not see farmers having any solution on their own. Our appeal is that Government should honour its promises and subsidise inputs,” said Mr Khumalo.
The deputy president of the Zimbabwe Farmers Union, Mr Abdul Nyathi, said farmers had lost hope.
He said if the Government does not quickly make funds available the country would have to import more wheat which is usually the case, a situation that would lead to a shortage of bread and increase in prices.
“The situation is very bad because farmers had put hope on the announced scheme but nothing has come. This means there would be an unavoidable importation of wheat,” he said.
He said a 50kg bag of fertiliser costs nearly $50 and farmers would not be able to meet the costs.
“Whoever has planted it is just for consumption and not commercial,” said Mr Nyathi.
The chairperson of the ZCFU Matabeleland North Province, Mrs Irene Maphenduka, said farmers were not happy, as they were not sure whether they would be able to grow the crop this year.
“Many farmers have not planted near the Nyamandlovu Aquifer. I just heard one farmer was preparing to plant but have not checked of late. This is sad for farmers. They have been approaching us asking about the funds but banks keep saying there is no money,” she said.
In the Umguza area, the majority of farmers have resorted to cash crop production because of the high costs of production.
Some farms are still under cabbages, tomatoes and green mealies, some still unprepared while others have already planted onions where they could have grown wheat.
Only farmers at Randell Farm and Ian and Ken Farm have planted wheat while all others around the area have not.
Some farm workers said they were not sure whether they would plant as they usually had problems with inputs, especially top dressing fertiliser.
CBZ Bank is supposed to handle the loan facility while the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) would manage the distribution of the inputs.
Under the scheme, wheat growers were supposed to get vouchers from CBZ Bank and produce them to GMB before collecting inputs.
Farmers’ organisations recently expressed concern on the money charged by service providers where they are forced to fork out about $700 to irrigate a hectare each month.Inputs would be accessed at cost price under a credit arrangement at a concessionary rate of below three percent per annum.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Minister Joseph Made recently said the $20 million would result in 26 280 hectares of land going under wheat to meet the national a target of 75 000 tonnes of the crop. Zimbabwe consumes 450 000 tonnes of wheat annually.
Online Reporter