Winter wheat target reduced to 200 000t

18 Jun, 2017 - 02:06 0 Views
Winter wheat target reduced to 200 000t Winter wheat

The Sunday News

Walter Mswazie and Clinton Moyo
THE Government has reduced the target for this year’s winter wheat crop harvest from 500 000 to around 200 000 tonnes after a number of farmers planted their crop late.

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development responsible for cropping Davis Marapira, said many farmers started wheat planting late and their crop might be affected by rains as it will now mature at a time when the rainy season is expected to start.

“Our winter wheat harvest may be adversely affected by late planting that some farmers did. Some had a torrid time with harvesting their maize given that the incessant rains did not give them time to dry their crops. They were forced to start planting after 31 May and some planted last week,” said Deputy Minister Marapira.

He said the wheat planted after 31 May may be affected by the rains because if the crop is planted in June, it can encroach into September when the rain season is expected to start.

“Last year we had 100 000 tonnes of wheat and this year we were expecting 500 000 but with all these obstacles the figure is reviewed down to at least 200 000 tonnes. The production of wheat in the country will obviously decrease the import bill and thus adding value to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). We will only import blending wheat and thus creating employment,” he said.

He said the ideal time to plant wheat was before 1 May but only a fraction of farmers had planted at the time. The Deputy Minister said the worry was also that by September most farmers will be preparing for summer cropping and to apply lime and gypsum fertilisers hence the processes might be affected if the wheat is not ripe.

He urged farmers in Masvingo, Matabeleland South, North and other low-lying areas to apply phosphate in their fields or farms prior to planting given that most soils in those areas have phosphorus deficiency.

He said while the Government supplied farmers with needed inputs that include fertilisers, seed and in some instances chemicals, not all farmers benefited due to overwhelming figures. He said some farmers, who did not previously involve themselves in wheat, also volunteered to be part of the programme hence this had a strain on the Presidential input scheme.

Meanwhile, more than 2 000 hectares have been cropped under the Government’s Winter Wheat Command Programme in Matabeleland region. Matabeleland North’s Department of Agricultural Technical and Extension Services (Agritex) provincial officer Mr Dumisani Nyoni said about 600 hectares were contracted for winter wheat while 72 percent of the area has already been cropped.

He said 95 percent of the area earmarked for wheat had been cropped in Bubi, Lupane and Hwange districts with 74 percent being planted in Umguza while cropping was expected to start in Binga this week.

“Maize has not yet been harvested in some of the areas that are earmarked for wheat production and we expect the harvesting to be completed soon. The maize yield achieved under the Command Agriculture Programme was overwhelming. Some farmers managed to obtain more than 10 tonnes per hectare with some even getting as much as 12 tonnes per hectare. Some farmers were sceptical when we started the Programme (Command Agriculture), but we now expect more after having seen the others benefiting,” said Mr Nyoni.

Matabeleland South Agritex provincial officer Mr Masawuso Mawocha said 1 796 hectares have been tilled with 1 641 hectares already cropped.

“The 1 641,7 ha that has been cropped to date is an increase from the 619,5 ha that was planted last season prior to the Command Wheat Programme,” he said.

A total of 2 241,7 ha has been cropped in Matabeleland region. By end of March, Mashonaland West had the highest area contracted as 12 136 hectares were registered for wheat production by 156 farmers, while other provinces stood as follows:

Mashonaland Central (6 900 ha), Mashonaland East (5 891 ha), Manicaland (1 327 ha), Midlands 1 738 ha) and Masvingo (1 207 ha).

According to the Treasury Quarterly Bulletin (January-March 2017), the programme is expected to go a long way in reducing wheat imports and also saving foreign currency.

“Following the success of the Special Maize Programme (Command Agriculture) during the 2016-17 agriculture season, Government has embarked on a Special Winter Wheat Production programme similar to that of maize in an endevour to reduce wheat imports. The programme is targeting 70 000 ha at average yields of five tonnes per hectare and already 881 farmers with hectarage of more than 56 000 ha have been registered by end of March,” reads the bulletin.

Private financiers have also contracted over 14 000 ha of wheat this season.

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