By Mercy Bofu-Matinha
PREPARATIONS for Zimbabwe’s winter wheat cropping season are well underway, with Masvingo province setting a target of 4 000 hectares for cultivation.
As the season approaches, key stakeholders in the agricultural sector convened in Masvingo for a winter wheat preparatory meeting, where farmers expressed readiness and urged continued government support for maximum yields.
“As Mbungo Estates, we are targeting 170 hectares of winter wheat this season, and so far, we are ready to harvest our summer crop, focusing on meeting our April deadline for planting of our wheat. It is our hope that our government will continue supporting us,” one wheat farmer said.
“We are a new irrigation scheme in Bwanya Chivi North, we are starting with 20 hectares of wheat, in today’s meeting we engaged government to assist in clearing more land such that we will be able to increase our hectarage,” another farmer said.
The government said all stakeholders involved in winter wheat production are ready to support the programme.
“Today we are meeting with our wheat farmers as we prepare for the winter wheat season. We invited all stakeholders from the Grain Marketing Board, ZINWA, ZESA, such that we plan together and reaffirm our commitment to supporting our farmers this season. Our goal is not only to increase hectarage but also to increase production per hectare,” the Permanent Secretary for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Dr Addmore Pazvakavambwa said.
“This season we received a lot of rains and many of our dams are full hence we are confident that we will meet our hectarage target. We continue to ensure our agriculture extension workers work together with our farmers so that we have increased production,” Masvingo Provincial Director, for Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services, Mr Caleb Mahoya said.
This season, the country is targeting 120 000 hectares of winter wheat with an output of 600 000 metric tonnes of the cereal crop.
