The Sunday News
MOST farmers in Matabeleland region have begun preparations for the forthcoming farming season although they face difficulties in accessing adequate inputs due to financial constraints.
Matabeleland North provincial Agricultural Technical and Extension Services officer, Mr Dumisani Nyoni said most of the farmers in his area of jurisdiction were at an advanced stage with regards to land preparation.
He said with the country expecting normal to above normal rainfall this month until January with very low rainfall expected in the preceding months, farmers were encouraged to do dry and early planting, use early maturing varieties as well as sowing crops which best suit their climatic regions.
“At the moment farmers are doing land preparations with those practising conservation farming having dug their holes and applied manure while most with tractors or are hiring are in the process of tilling their land. The District Development Fund (DDF)’s fleet is severely depleted.
“Those that rely on draught power for tillage are also tilling and this year most of the oxen and donkeys are in good shape as there were enough pastures due to good rains last year. However, we encourage them to engage in supplementary feeding especially in areas which were affected by veld fires,” Mr Nyoni said.
He said two seed houses have delivered their seed products through reputable farmers after cutting ties with agro-dealers for breaching contractual agreements pertaining to the remittance of funds after sales.
“Two seed houses have delivered their seed through the farmers they have identified to have potential to produce optimum yields and entered into agreements for them to sell their products to other farmers within their vicinities.
“This arises after some agro-dealers have over the years proved to be dishonest as they sell the seed and fail to remit the money that will be due to the seed houses they might have entered into agreements with,” Mr Nyoni said.
He said the delay in payment for crops delivered to the Grain Marketing Board was hampering efforts by farmers to stock inputs before the onset of farming season as most of them would be facing financial constraints.
“We are not happy with the late payment by GMB because we will have a situation whereby most farmers will put down returned seeds from their granaries and this will culminate in reduced yields.
“Although seed is available, the challenge to most farmers is accessing it and lack of funds to purchase the commodity,” Mr Nyoni said.
Matabeleland South provincial Agritex officer Mr Judiya Ncube urged farmers to start preparations and desist from relying on Government’s input schemes.
“We are also encouraging them to stagger their planting as the rainfall is unpredictable. Extension officers are doing their part assisting farmers on which crops to grow to attain optimum yields.
“The price of seed is still expensive for most communal farmers as they are forced to seek it in towns thus we are encouraging agro dealers to consider getting closer to the farmers,” Mr Ncube said.
He however, said farmers in the province were facing perennial tillage challenges.
“Draught power is always a problem in this area because during the onset of the rains most of the animals won’t be in good condition and although DDF sometimes assist with tractors its fleet is depleted,” Mr Ncube said.
DDF Matabeleland North provincial planning officer Mr Moment Malandu confirmed that the Government agency’s tillage department was facing a challenge as close to 80 percent of its tractor fleet was down due to the unavailability of spares.
“We are prepared for the farming through offering tillage services to farmers with each district having one or two tractors. As a province we have an allocation of 99 tractors but most of them are down. We however, expect most of them to be repaired soon as a tender for the purchase of spare parts has already been advertised,” Mr Malandu said.
