(HERALD) Season records low winter wheat hectrage

Season records low winter wheat hectrage
Herald Reporters

Farmers have this winter wheat season so far planted 7 000 hectares compared to 11 000 last year. This year’s national target was set at 60 000 hectares. There are fears farmers might fail to surpass the 10 000 hectares mark.

The greatest challenge they face is unreliable power supply that seriously affected irrigation schedules.

Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union director Mr Paul Zakariya was however, optimistic that the hectarage under wheat would increase to 15 000 if farmers continued planting beyond the cut off date of June 1.

"Not much is happening on the ground in terms of wheat planting.

"Inputs came late and most farmers have decided to either cut their hectarage while others abandoned wheat production this season," Mr Zakariya said.

The Government’s US$10 million subsidised inputs came after the planting dates and this affected some farmers seriously.

"The situation is bad for some farmers who do not have cash to buy the subsidised fertilizers going for US$15 per bag," he said.

Meanwhile, power interruptions have also affected the wheat that has already germinated.

The crop is suffering from moisture stress and frost.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union president Mr Wilson Nyabonda said wheat heavily depended on electricity availability and constant cuts posed a great challenge this season.

Commenting on the power outages, Energy and Power Development Minister Elias Mudzuri said not every wheat farmer would get constant electricity supply.

He said Government had identified certain clusters that had major wheat producers to supply with power to ensure maximum productivity.

Minister Mudzuri said Zesa was compelled to supply electricity to the selected wheat growers and those with queries should approach his Ministry for assistance.

"We selected major wheat producers through the Ministry of Agriculture and farmers are having three days per week of consistent power supply. If people are not receiving the normal allocation they should feel free to visit our offices. Zesa is actually compelled to supply the farmers without any interruptions," he said.

Initially, Zesa Holdings promised uninterrupted electricity supply three days a week for the winter cropping season this year but this is not the situation in most areas.

Farmers who had an early crop have started counting their losses as it is being affected by constant power cuts.

In Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland East provinces, farmers are going for two weeks without electricity.

The nation requires 450 000 tonnes of wheat but for the past few years has been failing to meet the target as yields continued to decrease.

This is mainly being caused by late distribution of inputs and unreliable power supply.

This year some farmers who had been producing wheat for years shifted to barley under contract farming because of the guarantee of early inputs and ready market.

Last year wheat production was affected by the financial constraints as most farmers failed to buy the inputs, which were readily available on the market.