Vusumuzi Dube
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
FARMERS across the country have started harvesting early-planted winter wheat, while others are making preparations to start soon, so as to guarantee a seamless and timely reaping of the valuable cereal.
The Government has also taken the proactive step of securing 310 combine harvesters and they are optimistic of surpassing 600 000 tonnes, banking on the strong average yield of six to seven tonnes per hectare that is likely to be realised come harvest time.
The 310-combine harvester fleet is set to process up to 3 900 hectares per day. This season, 121 982 hectares have been put under wheat, surpassing the set target of 120 000.
To optimise the deployment and utilisation of combine harvesters, the Government has also established winter wheat clusters to streamline logistics and service provision associated with the essential harvesting equipment.
The clustering model allows for targeted allocation of the 310 combine harvesters, ensuring that the machinery is deployed in a manner that best serves the needs of farmers within each designated region.
Giving an update on winter wheat harvesting, Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services (Ardas) acting chief director, Mr Leonard Munamati said harvesting started on September 10.
“To achieve wheat-based food security, we increased the hectarage under wheat and it is now ready for harvesting, from September 10, going forward, harvesting has started. Farmers have started harvesting the early planted wheat and from next week will be giving statistics of how much hectarage has been harvested,” he said.
“What we have done countrywide, is, we have identified combine harvesters that are functional and we have tried to link all the various farmers to a specific combine harvester so that they harvest on time.”
He said they had compiled statistics on how much hectarage was going to be harvested between September 20 to 30, October 1 to 10 as well as to the end of October.
Mr Munamati said they were encouraging farmers to be ready for harvesting and ensure they do it on time.
“For the smallholder sector, what we are also doing is, we have linked the various irrigation schemes to AFC and Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) who have got combine harvesters, which they can use to harvest. But some small-sized irrigation schemes will obviously harvest using sickles,” he added.
A sickle is one of the most common hand tools used for harvesting of the crops, grass and cutting of other vegetative matters. It consists of curved steel-edged blade, fixed to the wooden handle, the cutting edge may be plain or serrated depending on the design. In the Matabeleland region, 1 913 hectares was put under wheat in Matabeleland North, with harvesting expected to commence the first harvest in the last week of September.
The province has four combine harvesters, which are privately owned and expects two more to assist in terms of hiring by other farmers.
In Matabeleland South, the province has said it is ready to harvest the winter wheat, working together with AFC since they have a banking facility for the repayment of loans from farmers.
In terms of combine harvesters, Arda Antelope has got two, lnsiza has one, Marema in Beitbridge has one, Smith of Beitbridge has three and Luwade in Beitbridge has one as well.
There are six Government-linked companies and organisations that offer services and support for operating and maintaining combine harvesters complemented by individual farmers as well as private sector agricultural companies.
These include the Agricultural Financing Company (AFC) Leasing, Arda, Department of Mechanisation Development, the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS), the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF).
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