The Sunday News
Munyaradzi Musiiwa in Mberengwa
VILLAGERS in Mberengwa have embraced a zero-tillage agricultural programme known as Pfumvudza, which was introduced by Government to ensure optimum grain production in communal lands.
Pfumvudza is part of the country’s broader hunger averting agricultural programme that aims to ensure food security at household level. The programme, which is still in its infancy has been embraced in rural communities and resettlement areas in Mberengwa North where communal farmers are already preparing land for the zero tillage programme.
The Government is advocating zero tillage in areas that receive below average rains and semi-arid regions considering that it leaves plant residues on the ground, which can help keep the soil moist and protect against evaporation caused by sun and wind.
Mberengwa villagers have started preparing their lands ahead of the summer season and have embraced zero tillage as a way of reducing costs of production as well as preserving soil moist. Mberengwa North Member of Parliament Cde Tafanana Zhou said zero tillage was more ideal in his constituency and has more benefits considering that the area usually receives below average rains.
“We have already started embarking on Pfumvudza programme as you have seen. Farmers in Mberengwa have already embraced it. Some of the advantages according to our experts are that it improves soil structure. We have been advised that tilling land usually disrupts natural structures of soils as well as dispersing carbon needed by soils into the air. This means more nutrients are preserved in the soil which also increases yield.
“Mberengwa also has some areas that have loose soils. With zero tillage under Pfumvudza, erosion can be reduced since it leaves more residue on the surface in the months when there are no crops growing like the dry season or winter. This keeps the soils moist as well as intact. It is another way that this method improves soils nutrients,” he said.
Cde Zhou said the Pfumvudza programme also helps to minimise soil compaction. Ideally, each time equipment drives over the surface, soil gets compacted. This means the air and water pockets present in the soil are squeezed out by the weight of the machinery enabling the passage of water, crop roots and soil species.
The concept of “pfumvudza” is crop production intensification approach that allows farmers to concentrate resources (inputs and labour) on a small land unit to facilitate optimum management resulting in increased productivity. The programme is meant to support over 1,6 million vulnerable households for maize with a standardised input package of 5kg seed, 12kg lime, 50kg basal and 50kg top dressing fertilisers. This package is enough to cover two 0,06ha plots and beneficiaries are expected to fully and religiously adopt Conservation Agriculture Principles as a way to climate proof the programme.
