(HERALD) All set for farming season
All set for farming seasonHerald Reporter
GOVERNMENT has secured enough seed, fertilizer, farming implements and fuel in anticipation of a successful 2007/08 farming season, says the Minister of Agriculture, Cde Rugare Gumbo. Speaking at a Press briefing in Harare yesterday on Zimbabwe’s agricultural preparedness for the forthcoming season, dubbed "The Mother of All Farming Seasons," Cde Gumbo said everything was in place.
"But we really want to stress that emphasis is on yields and not hectarage. As the situation stands at present, most of our people are ready for the summer season. There is much enthusiasm," the minister said.
Cde Gumbo said the country has targeted to put at least 2 million hectares under maize, 400 000ha under small grains (sorghum and millet), 600 000ha under tobacco, 120 000ha under soyabeans, 200 000ha under groundnuts, 400 000ha under cotton and 56 000ha under sugarcane.
"These are the targets we want to achieve. The fact that we have indicated these figures does not mean we will stop," he said.
Cde Gumbo said the targets along with the anticipated good rains projected by weather forecasts should contribute to the success of the farming season.
"We are in a way comforted by the weather forecast that we may have normal to above normal rainfall this season and we want to ensure that we have a bumper harvest," Cde Gumbo said.
Acknowledging the existence of other challenges such as erratic electricity supplies, his ministry had engaged the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to mitigate the problems.
"In terms of tobacco everything is okay, the only challenge is irrigation and power outages. We have enough seed for soyabeans, cotton, and sugar cane," he said.
There was a small deficit of fertilizer particularly compound D, but the central bank was making frantic efforts to ensure that farmers received adequate supplies.
Cde Gumbo told journalists that Operation Maguta/Inala, spearheaded by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, had already started supplying communal and A1 farmers with fertilizers and seed.
"We are pleased with the performance of the operation in terms of providing inputs to rural areas," he said.
He commended Government for phase two of the Farm Mechanisation Programme, which he said would go a long way in enhancing production among communal farmers who contribute at least 85 percent of the national maize output.
Under phase two, Government distributed more than 50 000 animal-drawn implements including harrows, ploughs, cultivators and discs.
In addition, Government distributed more than 1 200 tractors and combine harvesters to farmers as it intensifies its efforts to enhance agricultural production.
Massive production of all agricultural products, Cde Gumbo added, was the best weapon against food shortages and inflation.
"The ministry’s thrust for the 2007-2008 farming season is massive production of all products, be it beef, chicken, pork as this is the only way we can stop food shortages.
"If we go into farming in a massive way we are sure inflation will go down, prices will also go down and retain our status as Southern Africa’s breadbasket," Cde Gumbo said.
RBZ Governor Dr Gideon Gono described the forthcoming agricultural season as the solution to all Zimbabwe’s challenges.
"This farming season is going to be the mother of all farming seasons. A mother symbolises stability, care and everything good about life. So we are looking forward to the coming season we have termed ‘The Mother of All Farming Seasons’," Dr Gono said.
He said at least 50 000 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer was available while 1 440 tonnes was with the GMB.
"I can report that of Compound D we have 30 000 tonnes of Amonium Nitrate and 1 440 tonnes is with the GMB while 396 000 tonnes is with our suppliers," he said.
He said 17 000 tonnes was expected to be delivered before November. Dr Gono said 12 964 tonnes of LAN fertilizer was also with the GMB while another 2 000 tonnes was in transit from an unnamed supplier.
"Twenty-five thousand tonnes of LAN fertilizer is expected to be delivered between October and January while 10 000 more will be delivered from February onwards," he said.
Dr Gono said a further 50 000 tonnes of Compound C for tobacco was in stock at the GMB while 35 000 tonnes had already been released to farmers. A further 7 000 tonnes was expected to be delivered in three weeks’ time.
Although the country had adequate land, adequate inputs and the technical know-how, he said the tools of the trade were equally important for the nation to achieve greater success.
Dr Gono said Government had launched the mechanisation programme to equip the farmers with the necessary implements.
"On June 11 we unveiled the launch of the mechanisation programme with 925 state-of-the-art tractors being distributed. This is a programme that has never been done in the history of the country and we mostly paid cash for the tractors with money from our own resources," Dr Gono said.
". . . prophets of doom thought it was propaganda. Last week we saw 1 200 tractors and over 50 000 animal driven implements of all kinds being distributed,’’ he said.
He said even the so-called industrialised countries had never distributed such a significant number of implements in one year.
"The programme goes beyond 2007 and we want to see all farmers getting their set of all the farming implements," he added.
Dr Gono also said timely availability of inputs to farmers was critical, adding that 50 000 tonnes of maize seed was already secured.
He said the central bank was going to support the local industry with foreign currency to play its part in meeting the national requirements.
He said power outages were also preventing local industry from fully utilising installed capacity but Government had come up with measures to address the problem.
He added that the mining industry has also been given the green light to import electricity directly to minimise interruptions to production.
On coal and fuel shortages, Dr Gono said Government was also doing its best to address the challenges.
"We are making efforts and we are expected to launch a programme next week that guarantees only enough fuel supplies but not excess," he said.
"You can see why we think the coming agricultural season is going to become a ‘Mother of All Farming Seasons’."
"Farmers should work hard to complement efforts by Government. Let’s put every inch of soil under crops or grazing. Let’s see Zimbabwe being all green and let’s see a hive of activity in the rearing of livestock as well," he said.
On the pricing of agricultural produce, Dr Gono said the Government had now come up with an import parity-pricing framework.
Under this framework farmers can now be paid half of their deliveries in foreign currency and the reminder in local currency.
Dr Gono said this move was also meant to encourage farmers to deliver their produce to the Grain Marketing Board and curb smuggling, side marketing and boost productivity on the farms.
"This incentive has already been extended to wheat farmers. Those who have delivered their grain to the GMB will get 50 percent in foreign currency," he said.
Dr Gono also urged the banks to expeditiously process farmer’s loans so that their farming activities did not suffer undue delays.
He said farmers should be able to access loans within five working days, from the day of application at their nearest banks in their various locations throughout the country.
"Often farmers have applied (for loans) and wait for two months before they get a response. Time is critical in farming and it doesn’t wait for anyone, they (farmers) should get their loans timeously," he said adding that the central bank has a complementary system that processes the applications in 48 hours.
The Press conference, organised by the Ministry of Information and Publicity, sought to inform the nation on the developments in the agricultural sector.
"The Press conference was convened as result of Government’s quest to tell the nation and the world on the progress of Zimbabwe agricultural sector and success story on agricultural development told by us not from the imperialists’ view," the Minister of Information and Publicity Cde Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said.
He said such Press briefings would be held on a weekly basis so that the nation was kept up to date on developments in the agricultural sector.
Labels: AGRICULTURE, GIDEON GONO, LAND REFORM, MECHANISATION, RUGARE GUMBO, THE HERALD, ZIMBABWE
posted by MrK @ 4:55 AM
2 Comments:
Zimbabwe is making all the right moves.
It would be great that beyond this tremendous effort in agriculture, they would look at organic methods that add to the quality of the land and of the food supply.
Organic farming also reduces costs, because fewer or no chemical inputs are required.
Check out: Keyline Designs, from the late PA Yeomans.
Keyline is all about using the contours of the land to create rainwater catchment systems and make farms selfsufficient in their watersupply.
Check out Conservation Farming:
Conservation farming with animal traction in smallholder farming systems: Palabana experiences
by Martin Bwalya
Traditional farming - land cleared through Chitemene can be adjusted and adapted to organic farming methods, crop rotation and the use of organic fertilizer, just as any other piece of land can.
On what Keyline is and does:
Keyline uses cultivation, irrigation and stock management techniques to greatly speed up the natural process of living soil formation. Conversion of subsoil into top soil may, under natural conditions, occur at 10 to 15 tonnes per hectare each year. On Keyline farms, during the conversion process, this figure may increase beyond 10 to 15 hundred tonnes per hectare each year. The numbers may be surprising but annually deepening the topsoil by 10 to 15 cm (ie 4 to 6 inches) achieves this result. It is a practical short term goal to deepen the living top soil to 30 and 45 cm (twelve to eighteen inches).
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