Story by Tafara Chikumira
THE Midlands province is set to contribute over eleven thousand hectares to the national winter wheat target of 120 000 after the planting period was extended.
The 11 600 hectares planted in Midlands Province this year is much higher than the 11 000 hectares planted last year, and there are revelations Zimbabwe has already surpassed the national target of 120 000 hectares of the cereal crop.
The government is confident the province will surpass its target of 12 000 hectares after the planting period was extended to the 19th of this month.
“We are currently at 97 per cent. Our biggest challenge was the water levels in our dams due to the El-Nino-induced drought. We are however confident that we might beat the target as we have managed to distribute some more inputs. We are advising our farmers to plant more of the crop so that we become food secure and we are also advising them to climate-proof through the planting of trees,” said Agriculture Rural Development Advisory Services Deputy Director, Mr Zivanayi Matore.
With good agronomic practices, the province is targeting to contribute about 19 per cent of national wheat requirements.
He added, “We are expecting to get about 60 000 tonnes of wheat from what we have planted this season. With that amount of wheat, we are food sufficiently secure. We are very confident that we will play our part as a province in ensuring the country attains its food security status.”
Government is targeting 600 000 metric tonnes of wheat, from more than 120 000 hectares planted this winter season.
