The Sunday News
THE Farming for the future guide says farmers’ low yields across Africa in the last decade are due to a multitude of reasons, including: declining investments in agriculture, unreliable rainfall, low and unattractive producer prices, poor extension support, poorly developed input supply markets, shortages and high prices of key inputs and declining soil fertility.
In addition, communal farming in Zimbabwe is characterised by low and inadequate soil, land and crop management techniques. In many countries, argues the report, land preparation is of a low standard, planting is often delayed and crops are not well managed. However, with the efforts and programmes initiated by Government such as Command Agriculture and Presidential Input Scheme, farmers across the country have been able to access inputs and technical expertise, which has gone a long way in improving their yields, though the rainfall pattern remains a major challenge.
One way of ensuring good returns from crop farming is early planting. Experts say planting early ensures that crops germinate ahead of weed seeds that would be lying dormant in the soil. Most weed seeds are shed from their parent plant dormant meaning they do not germinate readily unless there is a change in the environment surrounding them that promotes dormancy breakdown triggering germination.
It is behind that background of low yields in recent years due to poor rains that we encourage communal and commercial farmers to start working early, as it has a number of advantages. The Government has also announced that distribution of inputs under the Presidential Inputs Scheme for the summer cropping season has started with seed and fertilisers being delivered to Grain Marketing Board depots.
Farmers are expected to start collecting inputs in the first week of September, which gives them time to start working on the fields and do early planting.
In addition, Government has trained more than 1,6 million farmers in all eight rural provinces in the Pfumvudza concept, with more than 200 000 already registered for inputs.
Under the programme, farmers are exposed to conservation methods that allow them to cope with climate change. The newly trained farmers then benefit under the Presidential Inputs Scheme as Government moves to boost agriculture production and ensure food self-sufficiency and export surpluses.
The Presidential Input Scheme, which is the flagship of the Agriculture Recovery Plan, plans early input packages comprising seed, fertiliser, and fall armyworm pesticide for next season. Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement Permanent Secretary, Dr John Basera last week confirmed that inputs were being distributed to GMB depots countrywide.
“We have started input distribution to GMB depots for the Pfumvudza programme and farmers who would have completed critical operations such as holing out and accumulation of mulch can start to collect inputs from the first week of September. So far, 4 790 agricultural extension officers across all the eight rural provinces have been trained in the concept and its tenets. A total of 1 623 361 smallholder farmers, which is 90 percent of our target, have so far been trained by our extension officers as at 14 August. The training of farmers is expected to be completed by mid-September,” he was quoted as saying by our sister paper, The Herald.
Dr Basera said 228 625 households had adopted the Pfumvudza concept and had completed operations such as holing out (a new technique), manure application and mulch accumulation.
“We are positive that Pfumvudza is a game-changer and a fundamental ingredient in the agriculture transformation jigsaw. Our conviction is that Zimbabwe is a country that must feed itself and we are positive that we will be able to achieve that,” he said.
Dr Basera said the Pfumvudza farming concept would be based on principles that include minimum soil disturbance (holing out), using mulch to conserve moisture, timeliness of operations and adoption of good agronomic practices.
The programme is primarily aimed at increasing food output per unit area through the adoption of conservation agriculture and adoption of good agronomic practices such as mulching, population density management, crop rotations, fertilisation regime management, and pest and weed management.
The programme received a major boost in terms of extension services through enhanced mobility for the agricultural extension officers with the support of 5 000 motor cycles from President Mnangagwa. Under the Pfumvudza farming concept, each extension worker is given a target to train, track and monitor at least 350 households in their zones of operation, with some serving up to 1 000 or more.
