The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Farming Reporter
ONE of Matabeleland North Province’s most successful cattle breeders, Mr Victor Mills will soon embark on an outreach programme in Bubi District aimed at encouraging farmers to grow banner grass which is key in livestock feeding.
Mr Mills of Buyabona Farm in Bubi said his intention of rolling out the banner grass growing project to his neighbouring communal farmers in Ward 14 before spreading it throughout the district before the onset of the 2016/17 farming season had been hampered by lack of tractors and other ancillary equipment.
He, however, said it was of paramount importance for farmers in Matabeleland to come up with fodder banks to guard against livestock poverty deaths in the event of drought.
“Our intention was to encourage and assist communal farmers in our area to grow banner grass but we failed to do so due to the unavailability of tractors, now it’s rather too late to come up with such a programme because it’s deep into the season thus we will only be able to call them for a demonstration at our farm.
“If we had adequate tractors and a full range of equipment we would have been able to service about 30 farmers right through the growing programme with the onus being on them to ensure that the machinery is well taken care of,” said Mr Mills.
Banner grass is a major tropical grass. It is one of the highest yielding tropical grasses.
It is a very versatile species that can be grown under a wide range of conditions and systems which include dry or wet conditions, smallholder or larger scale agriculture. It is a valuable forage and very popular throughout the tropics, notably in cut-and-carry systems.
“It (banner grass) has an amazing growth rate. Common veld grass doesn’t grow as fast. You can cut it at low level and the grass re-grows in four days. The leaves can be cut in four to six weeks. The plant roots spread and as many as 17 stems can sprout out of a single stick that can be transplanted. In the rainy season, you have to cut it every four weeks.
“Through using a forage harvester one can realise 15 to 20 tonnes per hectare from veld grass, while with banner grass one can harvest after every six weeks and that translate to 480 tonnes per year. It also has an advantage over other fodder crops such as maize and soya beans in that one can keep on spreading it while the others have a normal cycle of planting and reaping,” said Mr Mills.
Banner grass is particularly suited to feed cattle and buffaloes. It is mainly used in cut-and-carry systems (“zero grazing”) and fed in stalls, or made into silage or hay.
It can be grazed, provided it can be kept at the lush vegetative stage. Livestock tend to feed only the younger leaves.
Mr Mills said they would also introduce the concept of making silage using banner grass.
“If you let the grass grow big, the stalks become thick and hard and cattle won’t eat. That is when a farmer must use the grass as silage.
Put the grass in a forage harvester or anything that can chop it. Dig up a trench or hole and store it there.
“Make sure you compact it, cover it, using the anaerobic process so that the air does not go in, or else it rots and becomes compost. It can be stored for up to six years, when you open it up, it would be as good as the day you put it in. That is the advantage of silage,” he said.
Mr Mills said farmers with fodder banks are likely to obtain better returns from their animals.
“It is high time communal farmers rear their cattle for commercial purposes and this entails having a fodder bank and putting their animals on a feedlot. If one feeds his/her animal on a feedlot it is likely to put on half a kilogramme a day that’s why it’s important for rural farmers to practice this concept so that they won’t sell their animals for nothing,” he said.
Mr Mills also said banner grass could also be used to prevent crops from being destroyed by armyworms.
“Banner grass helps in controlling pests in a maize field. If you plant it around the perimeter of your maize field, the moth eggs are laid on the banner grass and do not affect the maize crop,” he said.
