Plant now, farmers urged

Leonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
FARMERS who did not plant in November must do so now with the rains that are falling in most parts of the country, an Agritex officer has said. Dumisani Nyoni, Matabeleland North Provincial Agritex Officer told The Chronicle that farmers usually realise better yields from the crop planted in November although the planting period stretches to the first week of January.

Nyoni urged farmers, especially in Matabeleland, to plant early maturing varieties.

“Most parts were still dry and it just started raining. We’ve been encouraging farmers to dry-plant which we hope they did so that at least with the current rains their crop would germinate,” he said.

This comes at a time when the Met Department warned of heavy rains associated with violent winds, lightning, hail and flash flooding starting this weekend up to next week.

Rainfall in excess of 50mm is expected in most parts of the country.

Nyoni said reports reaching his office were that heavy rains fell yesterday in some parts of Matabeleland North, which would bring hope to farmers.

“We had rains in Binga, Jambezi and Hwange while in Lupane it was also drizzling.

We’re still getting reports but it looks like yesterday most parts started receiving rains and our hope is that farmers would utilise the opportunity and plant as much as they can,” said Nyoni yesterday.

“The Met Department said there’ll be rains this weekend and what remains is knowing how much time farmers would get to get into the fields. Our advice is that they should’ve planted most of their crops by December 20. We’re still within the planting period but they should plant early maturing varieties because we’re not sure how long the rainy season will be.”

Added Nyoni: “We usually have the November crop, another one in December and early January crop. The November crop is the one that usually gives high yield but it looks like farmers have missed out on it because rains came late.”

Most parts of Matabeleland region are suitable for small grain crops like sorghum, millet and rapoko because of the arid climate.