The Sunday News
THE Matabeleland North agricultural extension services (Agritex) department, in collaboration with a local non-governmental organisation (NGO), is carrying out a groundnut seed production programme in Tsholotsho with the aim of producing improved quality seed varieties.
In an interview Matabeleland North provincial agronomist, Mr Davison Masendeke, said treated groundnut seeds were in short supply resulting in some farmers using over recycled and poisonous seeds.
“We are carrying out a programme with the International Crops for Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to bring in groundnut seeds from Malawi and plant it and produce more seeds of good variety. We have selected Tsholotsho as one of the seed producing sites,” said Mr Masendeke.
Mr Masendeke said the seed would be distributed to farmers once the programme became successful.
He said they chose the groundnut seed variety from Malawi as it was one of the best groundnuts producing countries in the world that grew quality seed varieties.
He added that the country was facing a shortage of quality seed variety forcing some farmers to use disease infected seeds that were toxic to human beings.
“The challenge is that farmers are recycling the seed leading to disease called aflatoxin that is very poisonous to people and animals and because of that we cannot export our groundnuts,” said Mr Masendeke.
He said aflatoxin, a poison produced by a fungus called Aspergillus flavus, affects the human brain.
“Aflatoxin is not good especially for the young people as it retards brain development. If you plant seeds with aflatoxin you are going to get ground nuts that have aflatoxin. Every three years we need to have new seeds that are aflatoxin free because it’s very bad,” said Mr Masendeke.
Groundnut production has reportedly gone down by about 40 percent countrywide since 2005 due to a number of challenges which include shortage of quality seeds and poor agronomic practices.
During its peak (Zimbabwe), in 2005 and 2006, the country was in the region of 8 000 ha countrywide but that has since dropped to 4 700 ha.
The yields also went down from a high of 0,67 tonnes per hectare in 2004 and 2005 to 0,23 tonnes per hectare in 2012 and 2013.
Reports say poor agronomic practices were affecting groundnut production in the country.
The poor yields were also compounded by high incidence of pests and disease that were affecting crops.
