(HERALD) ‘Promote small grains’

‘Promote small grains’
By Vimbai Komani

AS she looks at her maize crop on the piece of land allocated to her as a new A1 farmer in Chegutu, Cde Flora Buka cannot hide the despair on her face.

Though looking well-tended and green, the Minister of State for Lands and Resettlement cannot help but think about the state of the crop in other parts of the country owing to erratic rains and the general shortages of fertilizer.

The crop on a neighbouring piece of land, which is not so green, is to a great extent a microcosm of the situation that is unfolding in many fields across the country, especially in Mashonaland West Province, an area that traditionally has a good maize output.

"If this is the situation in my home area of Gokwe, then l would advise my fellow new farmers in places like Tsungai, Chireya and Nyamhara to opt for either sorghum or millet," says Cde Buka.

"I do not think that people will harvest enough maize to sustain the whole country if the situation remains like this."

The crop situation on large swathes of arable land in parts of Mashonaland West and Harare’s environs — which sustain residents of the capital — have begun to show signs of life following the rains that have been falling for the past few weeks, but this could be a case of too little too late.

The general rainfall situation has prompted the Government, through its various arms, to step up efforts to encourage farmers in regions that have received little rains to grow drought-resistant crops such as sorghum and millet as a means of countering a potentially sub-standard maize output. These small grains are probably the best shot the country has at guaranteeing its food security, as they are drought-resistant and easier to manage than maize.

Although most families prefer growing the staple maize, research and experience have shown that some measure of commendable success is being recorded in the cultivation of small grains.

In the Murehwa area, for example, which has historically received rains sufficient for a good maize crop and market gardening activities, ruling party House of Assembly Member Cde Simbaneuta Mudarikwa has been donating tonnes of gypsum fertilizers to the people in his constituency as a means of countering the effects of the erratic rains witnessed so far this season.

He too has been encouraging his constituents to opt for the smaller, tougher grains.

"I have been encouraging the planting of small grains which reach maturity quicker than maize and require less natural rainfall as well.

"This year the rains came a bit late and they have been very unpredictable. This makes planning for a maize crop difficult and hence drought-resistant crops are a good option to ensure food security in the constituency and the wider district," he explains.

The Department of Agricultural Research and Extension Services says the campaign to promote small grains, which started in the early 1980s, has gained significant momentum although there are still a number of bottlenecks that need to be cleared to ensure the country fully benefits from the programme, especially in years of drought.

Arex’s report for the 2009 cropping period has it that the experience accumulated by small-scale farmers with small grains over the years needs to be consolidated.

Zimbabwe’s communal farmers are not new to working with small grains, but this has traditionally been done at a small scale.

The present campaigns to increase production in this area have tapped into this experience and the challenge now is to increase the hectarages that farmers opt for.

However, a number of the challenges affecting maize production are also impacting negatively on small grain output.

Every year without fail, immense human and financial resources are directed towards the production of the staple maize, even when the rainfall situation is not predictable and it would make more sense to invest significantly in small grains.

The emphasis has always been on cash cropping and perhaps this is a problem that stems from the nature of the colonial economy.

Before independence, the emphasis was always on cash cropping with communal farmers providing the bulk of the maize that guaranteed food security.

To a large extent, the Strategic Grain Reserve was built on the efforts of small farmers who were relegated to the worst pieces of land by white commercial farmers who preferred to grow tobacco and cotton.

After independence, resources were poured into maize production as a means of ensuring food security in the event of drought because white farmers were simply not interested in growing a crop with little financial rewards.

In the ideal situation, however, the proceeds from the export of cash crops is supposed to cross-subsidise maize output through Government programmes that source fertilizers and other inputs for those farmers who produce the staple crop.

Unfortunately, this cross-subsidisation is not taking place at present for a plethora of reasons, mainly to do with the adverse economic climate precipitated by the illegal sanctions slapped on the country.

The result has been that the Government has been sourcing inputs for maize production at great cost, only for erratic rainfall patterns to scupper the maize crop.

At the same time, private companies have been more inclined to support cash crop production through contract growing schemes that emphasise tobacco and cotton production while food security has suffered. A lot of money is put into the production of these crops with little going towards small grain production.

This summer cropping season, large quantities of maize seed were made available in shops while the Government also distributed the input under the Champion Farmer Programme.

Meanwhile, few shops have been selling seed for the production of sorghum and rapoko and yet these grains can go a long way in local and national guaranteeing of food security.

The Government is at the moment distributing fertilizer through the Grain Marketing Board mainly to farmers who are into maize growing.

In recent years, Zimbabwe has imported more than 200 000 tonnes of fertilizer from China.

No commensurate investment has gone towards the production of small grains despite the poor rains the country is receiving.

"Right now, most of those who are planting small grains have to use seed from their previous harvest. If you compare with the investment in other crops, small grains have largely been neglected.

"A lot of money has gone towards research into coming up with new varieties of maize and other crops. How then do we expect improvement in the production of small grains?" asks Ms Sibongile Ndlovu, an Arex officer in Chegutu.

Regardless, Arex says they have been forging ahead in trying to improve the availability of small grains even though there has been little co-operation from the private sector.

The research has seen areas like Murehwa and Mutoko making progress in the growing of the small grains. Due to the successive droughts the country has seen in the recent past, the Government should increase the attention paid to small grains in all regions.

A commendable initiative on the part of Government has been the way it is encouraging Delta Beverages, which has a near monopoly of the drinks market, to purchase grain from small farmers.

The company has also rolled out its own contract grower schemes and hopefully this will improve production.

Perhaps, more effort should now be put into creating a mutually-beneficial relationship between farmers who grow small grains and milling companies. At present, growers even have problems taking their crop to grinding mills because the operators prefer maize.