The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure
Senior Reporter
MANICALAND has so far planted about 150 000 hectares under maize against a target of 265 000 hectares.
The province is expected to have covered more ground by the last week of December, by which period the cereal crop should have germinated, and at various stage of growth to maximise on Heat Units (HU) that are curial for its growth.
Manicaland is targeting to put 265 000 hectares under maize and 100 000 hectares under traditional grains, and farmers need to race against time to wind up planting by the end of this month.
Timing of planting has a major effect on the yield, and for a summer maize crop, early planting at the beginning of the rainy season is advisable as yields decrease with late planting, primarily due to decreasing daily Heat Units (HU) as the growing season progresses.
Most farmers in Manicaland planted with the first effective rains in October, with the maize growth rate responding well to high daily temperatures experienced in October, November and December.
In rain-fed production of Manicaland, which are often characterised by erratic rainfall distribution, the date of the start of effective rain is a crucial factor in deciding when to plant and maize variety selection.
At least 40 percent of the HUs are experienced during these three months, so it is critical for farmers to plant their crop as early as possible to capitalise on the HUs.
The onset of the rainy season can affect food security as much as the amount of rain received, and farmers have been taking advantage of the incessant rains to intensify planting, apply chemicals and fertilisers.
Statistics released by Agriculture Advisory and Rural Development Services (AARDS) provincial agronomist, Mr Cephas Mlambo shows that maize was at 150 000ha, peral millet 28 120ha, sorghum 24 750ha and rapoko 5390ha.
Tobacco, which is the country’s highest foreign currency earning crop, has exceeded the target at 21 600ha.
“We have planted about 60 percent of the 265 000ha under maize, 45 percent of the 55 000ha sorghum target, 74 percent of 38 000ha target of pearl millet, 77 percent of the 7 000ha of rapoko, while tobacco has recorded 108 percent of the 20 000ha target,” said Mr Mlambo.
The majority of the crop is under the Pfumvudza programme in which Government gave smallholder farmers a full basket of inputs for five plots each measuring 39mx16m per household.
About 461 573 farmers benefited under the programme, with Government disbursing 24 150mt of Compound D and top dressing fertilisers, respectively, 2 469mt of seed maize, 314mt of traditional grains and 483 000 combo packs of vegetable seed to Manicaland.
Initially, the planting window was expected to run from October to mid-December.
“Planting is progressing well due to recent rains. We are encouraging farmers to wind up their planting. Crop condition is generally fair to good, and we are encouraging farmers to adopt herbicides to control weeds. Hand hoe weeding is not effective due to wet current conditions and is labour intensive,” said Mr Mlambo.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU), executive director, Mr Paul Zakaria said the rains are encouraging and resemble a good summer season.
“It is quite encouraging, and we hope the rains will be evenly distributed and give farmers an opportunity to do other things like weeding and applying fertilisers, herbicides and chemicals.
“It has been a while since we had such a good start of the season in decades. This stands out as one of the best start of the seasons, and we should take advantage of it,” said Mr Zakaria.
Mr Zakaria said of all climatic factors, rainfall variability is considered the most critical for rain-fed agriculture with its variable nature often cited as the main reason for frequent crop failures and food shortages especially among small-scale non-irrigated agro-ecosystems.
“We are happy with the early distribution of inputs for smallholders (Pfumvudza) which enabled the beneficiaries of this noble Government sponsored scheme to plant with the early rains. However, for the self-financed farmers, the cost of inputs is very expensive, and this means some farmers were forced to downsize their hectarage,” he said.
Mr Zakaria urged farmers to work closely with their local extension officers.
Rural development expert, Professor Joseph Kamuzhanje said Pfumvudza, which uses conservation agriculture principles, can enhance a farmer’s harvest, especially in times when there is inadequate rainfall.
Professor Kamuzhanje warned farmers against complacency amid prospects of normal to above normal rains, urging farmers to follow every step of the holistic and integrated process because if a farmer cuts corners on just one of them, then all of them will fail.
Regional weather and climate experts in October month forecasted that the country is expected to receive normal to above-normal rainfall between October and March 2023.
