Sugar cane farmers optimistic of bumper harvest

He said the crop had received a fairly good amount of rains that they may not need any irrigation until harvesting.

“We are now happy because the rains have been falling. At least farmers can afford to put smiles on their faces because we had lost hope as water levels in main supplying dams had decreased.

“Now there is water logging in most farmers’ plots and those are ideal conditions for sugar cane farming,” said Mr Hwarare.

“If it continues raining, we may end up not irrigating our crops until harvesting time. There is a drying season when the crop does not need any water apart from the moisture already within the soil. This means if it rains in February, we might forget about irrigating this season,” he said.

Mr Hwarare said the major dams had received significant inflows that in case of the disappearance of the rains farmers will not have to panic.

“There is significant inflow in major dams like Bangala dam, which can be estimated to be more than 50 percent, while small ones are already full and others are now about 38 to 40 percent full depending on the carrying capacity.

“We can expect a bumper harvest and contribute to more than 20 percent of total sugar production in the country,” he said.