Chronicle Editor
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Matabeleland South Bureau Chief
FARMERS in Matabeleland South Province have responded well to the Government’s call to adopt the Climate-Proofed Presidential Inputs Scheme Intwasa/Pfumvudza programme as about 70 percent of them have prepared between three to five plots.
Land preparation process is still ongoing.
Ninety thousand one hundred and eighty seven farmers from the province have been trained out of a target of 140 058. A total of 106 826 households have prepared between three to five plots.
Farmers have this year been encouraged to prepare five plots of which three will be under cereal production.
Government announced that this year, the distribution of seed types and varieties for the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme will depend on the climate and soils of each region in order to boost production.
Farmers in regions four and five are receiving an input package to plant one mandatory sorghum plot, one millet plot and one sunflower plot with farmers getting the option to choose between maize, cowpeas, ground nuts, sorghum and millet for the two remaining plots.
Generally, the Matabeleland region receives low rainfall with increased chances of mid-season dry spells that have also been increasing in length.
More than three million farmers have registered for the conservation agriculture scheme, with at least 1,5 million having undergone training.
The Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme is set to benefit 3,5 million farmers in communal, A1, small scale commercial farming, old resettlement and peri-urban farmers in the production of cereals, oilseeds and legumes including a special pack for 500 000 urban farmers.
The programme is supporting five Pfumvudza/Intwasa plots, each measuring 39m x16m in size per household.
This year farmers are expected to plant two million hectares of maize. For sorghum the Government has set a target of 380 000 hectares to produce 304 000 tonnes while 250 000 ha are set to be put under pearl millet to produce 150 000 tonnes.
Farmers were this year able to start the planting process early after receiving their inputs on time.
Acting provincial director of agricultural rural development and advisory services for Matabeleland South, Mr Mkhunjulelwa Ndlovu said inputs distribution under the Intwasa/Pfumvudza programme is in full swing.
He said the inputs distribution process has covered 70 percent of the targeted farmers.
“The input distribution process in going on well in all districts in the province. Farmers are getting small grains, cow peas, sunflower and maize. Last week we distributed to over a 1 000 households. Input distribution is at an advanced staged as we have distributed to about 70 percent of the targeted households and the distribution process is still ongoing,” he said.
“The response from farmers has been very good. Some have planted while some have started weeding. About 70 percent of the farmers have prepared between three to five plots. Some farmers have even gone further to prepare more than five plots. Some have 10 while others have gone up to 15 plots.”
He said some farmers were still continuing to prepare their land and planting.
Mr Ndlovu said the training process was still ongoing. He said they have equipped lead farmers with knowledge and skills to impart to other farmers in order to cover a lot of ground under the training programme. Mr Ndlovu said farmers who could not meet the targeted number of plots by digging basins have adopted mechanised Pfumvudza and they were receiving inputs.
Matabeleland falls under agro-ecological regions three, four and five characterised by low rainfall.
The Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum has predicted normal to above normal rainfall for the 2022-2023 season.
Government has already released $20 billion towards the programme. This year’s target means an additional 1,2 million households will benefit from the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme, after 2,3 millon households participated last year. — @DubeMatutu.
Online Reporter