adminNgoni Dapira
SMALL-SCALE wheat farmers have been urged to make use of wheat seed trials to enhance their produce and avoid unnecessary losses from diseases such as stem rust which can reduce yields by 90 percent.
This was highlighted during the wheat seed trial at Franklin Farm in Old Mutare last Friday.
Seed Co Limited research field officer, Mr Earnest Ruwizhi, said wheat trials helped to improve the country’s yields and ensure harvests in different ecological regions.
He said most commercial farmers made use of data collated from wheat seed trials, but small-scale farmers were not, which explains why most of them recorded poor harvests.
“The importance of wheat seed trials is to determine which variety does well in our different ecological regions in the country. The choice of a wheat variety to grow is important since varieties differ in their response to different management cultures and environmental conditions.
“For instance, this year at Franklin Farm they grew a new variety that we introduced, SC (Seed Co) Select, which came out very well, which shows the importance of research to improve the country’s average yield and ensure food security,” said Mr Ruwizhi.
Mr Ruwizhi added that seed varieties differed in terms of high yield or low yield, which is why research is important.
“For instance, we have the SC Sekuru which is not good for commercial farmers because it tends to produce low yields, while the SC Stallion is a red-seeded wheat variety that is high yielding, highly tolerant to both forms of Rust (disease) and reasonable tolerance to Powdery Mildew (disease) making it as good as SC Smart.
“The SC Stallion meets prescribed milling industry quality characteristics such as protein percentage and wheat farmers should strongly consider SC Stallion in their winter wheat cropping programme,” said Mr Ruwizhi
The owner of Franklin Farm, Mr Rob Franklin, said he had been conducting wheat seed trials since 1963 and had found them very beneficial, this year having grown 80 hectares and anticipating over 700 tonnes.
“We really need to promote research on wheat breeding. We really appreciate the job by Seed Co and research institutions. My experience over the years has shown that research helps on the total hectarege. When I started I was producing two tonnes per hectare, but now I produce eight to nine tonnes per hectare because of the wheat seed trials,” said Mr Franklin.
Mr Franklin each year conducts seed trials on a hectare with Seed Co and other research institutions conducting tests on the various varieties planted during the harvesting period.
Mr Franklin, however, bemoaned this year’s low producer price pegged at $400 a tonne, which is lower from last year’s $420.
He said the marketing of food crops such as wheat and maize was a serious problem for farmers as the cash-strapped Grain Marketing Board, which fails to pay farmers on time was the major buyer.
“The concept of time value of money is key to farming as farmers have to pay back their loans with interest, pay their suppliers, utilities, and employees, to name a few, all of which have to be done on time, with failure to do so resulting in penalties such as late payment charges and interest penalties. We therefore believe, like what has been achieved in the tobacco sector that the marketing for food crops must be privatised through a commodities exchange of some sort where market forces determine the price,” said Mr Franklin.
According to agricultural experts wheat cannot be grown sustainably by smallholder farmers like in the case of tobacco, as it requires vast tracts of land that allow a farmer to benefit from economies of scale that lower their cost of production per hectare.
Furthermore, bankable title deeds that provide security of tenure will also encourage farmers to develop their farming land and infrastructure which will also improve yields and the collateral value of the property.
The country’s peak wheat production was in 1990s where in 1990, 1999, and 2001, annual wheat production peaked to 325 000 metric tonnes, 324 000 metric tonnes and 325 000 metric tonnes respectively.
However, Mr Franklin said the biggest challenge farmers face in the production of winter wheat was the cost as well as the erratic supply of electricity for irrigation.
He said the dilemma of using generator during power outages for the purpose of irrigation only worsens the situation as the farmer’s costs balloon beyond their expected crop earnings.
“Our cost perspective, farmers in Zimbabwe becomes uncompetitive against market leaders in the production of wheat like Brazil and Russia that use natural rain water. But we remain hopeful if costs of inputs and electricity are cut to assist us farmers,” said Mr Franklin.
Online Reporter