The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Farming Reporter
THE Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development has embarked on a national crop and livestock assessment verification exercise in an effort to compile a comprehensive report on the state of farming activities in the country.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Deputy Minister Davis Marapira who is responsible for crop production and irrigation development confirmed that officials from the ministry were compiling information to ascertain the state of the 2015/16 season as well as the condition of livestock.
“There are teams that are currently carrying out a general crop and livestock assessment exercise. Thereafter we intend to compile a report possibly in two weeks and by that time we will be in a position to ascertain the real state of both the crops and livestock,” Deputy Minister Marapira said.
However, a general outlook before the release of an official report reveals that most of the crop in various parts of the country were now a write-off due to lack of rain while thousands of cattle have been lost due to drought.
The Government has already indicated that it needed more than $1,5 billon to feed three million people until the next harvesting season in March next year.
Matabeleland South’s Department of Agricultural Technical and Extension Services (Agritex) provincial officer Mr Judia Ncube confirmed that teams to verify the crop situation on the ground had been dispatched throughout the province’s districts.
“Our district extension officers started collecting data over two weeks ago and this entails ascertaining the hectarage planted, the crop and livestock condition as well as pasture availability. Now we have sent a verification team comprising officials from the head office and province.
“The team will visit all the districts to verify the information we got from the staff on the ground at the end of that, a report is compiled and handed over to the ministry which will announce the actual state with regards to the crop and livestock situation,” Mr Ncube said.
Matabeleland North provincial Agritex officer Mr Dumisani Nyoni also confirmed the dispatching of a verification team in the province.
“We are in the process of sending out a team on a national crop and livestock assessment verification today (Tuesday). The exercise, which is happening simultaneously in all the provinces, will end on the 18th of this month,” he said.
Zimbabwe is one of the worst countries in southern Africa region to be affected by El Nino, others being Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Zambia, Mozambique and Lesotho.
More than 30 million people are reportedly said to be affected by El Nino in southern Africa, with maize output expected to drop by 30 percent in South Africa alone.
El Nino causes a warming in sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, and can lead to unusually heavy rains in some parts of the world and drought elsewhere.
Steadily gaining strength since March last year, this year’s El Nino proves to have even more devastating.
