Intwasa bridges cattle deaths gap

28 Nov, 2021 - 00:11 0 Views
Intwasa bridges cattle deaths gap Intwasa

The Sunday News

Vincent Gono, Features Editor
MR MILANZI Dube of Ward 4, Majiji in Bubi district, Matabeleland North province’s herd of cattle succumbed to diseases that decimated livestock early this year. For the better part of his life he, like all other communal farmers in the country had been using cattle as draught power and the yields from his tolls have not been disappointing.

Cattle deaths therefore became a new headache to most farmers in the countryside who relied on them for ploughing but have their herds affected by diseases. The situation is not confined to Matabeleland provinces alone. Most communal farmers in the country have been affected and, in some cases, the whole herd getting wiped.

“I lost ten of my cattle in succession. That was between January and April this year. I was only left with three out of my herd of 13. And the three have never been yoked. You see, we have been relying on cattle for ploughing our fields but most villagers no longer have enough cattle for that. We can not hire tractors either. The cost is prohibitive but we need to plant and do it with these early rains,” he said.

Mr Dube admitted that at first, he was reluctant to adopt the pfumvudza/intwasa concept of farming because it was labour intensive and he was not the only one. He said it was his wife who with the benefit of foresight sat him down and opened his eyes to the reality that they no longer have cattle for draught power, neither can they hire a tractor.

“It was my wife who sat me down and made me see things clearly. Otherwise, I was one of the people who were opposed to the zero-tillage way of agriculture. We were not used to it. The thinking was that it was taking part of our time to drink beer at the shops and in villages,” he said.

Before long, he said, he realised that a number of villagers whose cattle have succumbed to the diseases were now working in the fields, digging holes and preparing manure which used be provided by the cattle.

“Mindful of our predicament, we started digging holes and it became the in thing in the whole village from around August. Every home was doing that and the activity fast became contagious. It moved from being a fearsome labour-intensive activity to something that the community was doing routinely and enjoying,” he said.

To the community and especially to those who had lost cattle, the concept became a must. No longer was it a matter of choice. It bridged the gap of cattle deaths while promoting conservation agriculture which the government had been preaching.

Cattle deaths, Mr Dube said, made the pfumvudza/intwasa gospel more practical even to the stubborn and strong headed villagers like himself. Agronomist and farmer Mr Davison Masendeke said the idea of zero tillage was easily closing the gap for people without cattle, while conserving land and help grow the national herd as it meant that cattle were no longer much as draught power. He said usually at the time of planting the animals would be at their weakest and pulling a plough exacerbates their condition.

“It is true that cattle deaths have forced even those that were reluctant to join others in the conservation agriculture concept – the pfumvudza/intwasa. The idea of eliminating the use of animals is a noble one. You will agree with me that at the time of planting, animals will be at their weakest and that pulling a plough exacerbates their condition.

There will be rains yes, but the pastures will be starting to improve. So, we encourage farmers to adopt the zero-tillage concept that is supported by the government. It saves them their cattle and help grow the national herd,” said Mr Masendeke.

He said farming needed a lot of planning as the season of planting very was short.

“Communal farmers need to be advised that the planting season is very short and if they wait for those with cattle to finish planting so that they start ploughing they will have poor yields. People all have the time to do holing and collect mulch and manure so there should be no excuse,” he added.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement Co-Deputy Minister, Douglas Karoro weighed in saying those that have no cattle no longer have to worry as the pfumvudza concept has become fashionable.

The concept, he said, if properly rolled out could ensure household and national food security and put a stop to grain imports and let resources be channeled towards other important things.

“The concept is an all-inclusive one. It takes everyone on board and involves the utilisation of small pieces of land where there is application of the correct agronomic practices for an improved agricultural production. The concept of pfumvudza is basically a way of climate proofing our agriculture. Fundamentally this is conservation farming. The practice seeks to conserve moisture and to reduce soil losses through erosion. There is very little disturbance to the soil as only holing out is done. A key component to the concept is the covering of the plot with leaves or any dead plant material as mulch to avoid excessive moisture loss,” said Deputy Minister Karoro.

He added that the concept was a crop production intensification approach that allows farmers to concentrate resources and expend energy on a small land unit to facilitate optimum management resulting in increased productivity. The deputy minister said farmers were excited with the concept that the government was supporting through timeous inputs provision to avoid unnecessary delays.

He noted that climate change has led to frequent droughts and limited precipitation. He urged the farmers to do early land preparation so that they plant their crop with the first effective rains adding that the food security plots should, where possible, be placed near water sources for easy access to supplementary irrigation water.

And for purposes of nutrition and crop rotation the concept encourages that farmers prepare two plots, one for cereals (maize or small grains) and another one for legumes thus providing a protein source to complement the cereal.

The approach according to the concept paper can be used in marginal areas and still give high yields allowing smallholder farmers to achieve household food security, while large-scale farmers can produce for the strategic grain reserve.

Its three key basic principles are that it uses minimum or zero tillage, it emphasises on the maintenance of organic mulch cover on the soil surface and it involves the use of crop rotations and interactions that include legume crops.

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