The Sunday News
ACCORDING to Rice Knowledge Bank, land preparation is important to ensure that the field is ready for planting. A well-prepared field controls weeds, recycles plant nutrients, and provides a soft soil mass for transplanting and a suitable soil surface for direct seeding.
Furthermore, land preparation covers a wide range of practices from zero-tillage or minimum tillage which minimises soil disturbance through to a totally ‘puddled’ soil which actually destroys soil structure.
It typically involves ploughing to “till” or dig-up, mix, and overturn the soil, harrowing to break the soil clods into smaller mass and incorporate plant residue, and levelling the field.
Initial land preparation begins after the last harvest or during fallow period. This is important for effective weed control and for enriching the soil. Generally, it will take three to four weeks to prepare the field before planting, according to experts.
The upcoming cropping season is expected to be successful like the previous one after good rain forecasts. It is behind that background that we urge farmers at what ever level to get busy and prepare their land, that is if they are yet to do so. This is because land preparation is key in agriculture and it has to be done before the rains come.
The government has made sure that is sets the ball rolling by providing input to farmers across the country, and it is now up to individual farmers to reciprocate government efforts. In today’s issue, we carry an article that reveals that more than 19 000 farmers in Matabeleland North and South have received inputs under the Climate Proofed Presidential Inputs Scheme, popularly known as Pfumvudza/Intwasa, for the coming cropping season.
Nationwide, more than 1,9 million farmers have holed out and qualified for the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme with more 224 089 having prepared their planting holes for five plots.
In an interview, Matabeleland North provincial agronomist, Ms Zenzele Ndlovu said more than 17 000 famers have benefited from the input scheme.
“In Matabeleland North over 17 000 farmers have benefited from the Pfumvudza/Intwasa input scheme, with 52 000 households that have at least a plot. 3 209 households have gathered much and about 225 households have limed,” said Ms Ndlovu.
She said Agritex officers were still sensitizing farmers to prepare for the cropping season, as everything was on course with distribution of inputs by Grain Marketing Board (GMB) gaining momentum.
Matabeleland South provincial agronomist Mr Innocent Nyathi said the distribution of inputs in the province was on course.
“Over 2 091 farmers have received inputs under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme, with over 6 534 farmers registered on the online application (app) for inputs. The number of households that have limed are 5 096 and 9 023 households have gathered mulch,” said Mr Nyathi.
He said they wanted all farmers to have collected their inputs before the rains as some roads may become impassable when the rains intensify. Mr Nyathi said once sustained rains are falling farmers will be advised by their extension officers when to start planting.
With Pfumvudza/Intwasa for the cropping season having intensified, Government has set aside $152 million for the transportation of inputs from GMB depots to wards where farmers can easily access them. Large-scale farmers under the CBZ Agroyield programme have also started collecting their inputs from their GMB depot.
The government, through the economic blue print, National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) has said agriculture was key to ensure food sustainability and economic growth.
“The NDS1 seeks to improve food self-sufficiency and to retain the country’s regional breadbasket status. The main objective is to increase food self-sufficiency from the current level of 45% to 100% and reduce food insecurity from the current peak of 59% in 2020 to less than 10% by 2025. 102.
In agriculture, fundamental to the projected economic growth, is resolving the security of land tenure and adoption of climate smart agriculture strategies.
“The NDS1 will facilitate access to affordable agricultural financing through various strategies including, establishing a Land Bank, strengthening the use of PPPs, as well as reviewing the contract farming and agricultural marketing frameworks to cover all crops and livestock.”
