Story by Mercy Bofu-Matinha
As the winter wheat harvesting season begins, government says measures have been put in place to ensure the process is done before the onset of the rainy season.
Farmers at Chinyamutuwa Irrigation Scheme in Bikita are among those who planted their winter wheat crop early and are ready for harvesting.
They put up nearly 30 hectares of the cereal crop and government has been supportive of the venture.
One of the farmers told the ZBC News, “We planted our wheat in May and we managed to do 25 hectares. We are happy that the government has been very supportive in terms of availing inputs and technical advice. We were expecting 10 tonnes per hectare though due to a few challenges we are expecting a bit less than that. Overally, we are happy and after harvesting we are going to deliver our wheat at Nyika GMB depot.”
Another farmer said, “By end of September we will start harvesting our wheat and its in blocks hence we are confident that we will be able to finish harvesting before the rains.”
Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services Acting Chief Director, Mr Leonard Munamati says government has since identified functional combine harvesters.
“This winter season as you know, the food security was wheat based and the harvesting season has begun, so government has put up various measures to ensure the crop is harvested early. We introduced what we call ‘winter wheat clusters’ to streamline logistics and ensure the machinery is allocated to regions based on farmers’ needs.
“All our farmers are going to be assisted, including our smallholder farmers who we are working on linking their irrigation schemes to the Agricultural Finance Corporation and the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority, both of which have combine harvesters. However, smaller schemes may still rely on traditional sickles for harvesting.”
A total of 3 500 hectares of winter wheat was planted in Masvingo this season, with harvesting expected to begin at the end of this month, while six combine harvesters will be dispatched to assist farmers in the province.
The country is targeting 600 000 metric tonnes of wheat after plating over 120 000 hectares this season.
