Soyabean farmers pin hopes on late crop

SOYABEAN producers in Manicaland are pinning their hopes on the late crop after the early planted crop performed poorly owing to erratic rainfall.

In an interview with The Herald on Wednesday, Manicaland provincial agronomist Mr Thomas Sakuhuni said the failure of the early crop would not have a negative impact on the season’s yield since only few farmers planted early.

“The early crop was affected by the dry spell encountered last year, but the damage was minimal because farmers received inputs later than usual so the number of farmers who had planted the early crop was low compared to other seasons,” he said.

“But some farmers who secured seed on time have a good crop.”

Mr Sakuhuni said the early crop was planted in November and had already been harvested.

“The late crop is now at the grain filling stage, but because the temperatures in the province have started dropping, the growth process is taking longer than usual,” he said.

“That crop is doing well, especially with the occasional rains still being recorded in some parts of the province. We expect the late crop to be harvested between mid-May and June.”

Mr Sakuhuni said soyabean farming in the province was being conducted under Government’s Command Agriculture Programme, as well as the provincial scheme, which dealt mostly with smallholder farmers.

Manicaland has some of the best soils for soyabean production and many farmers are taking up soyabean production in areas like Middle Sabi, Makoni, Mutasa, Nyanga and Chisumbanje.

Government included soyabeans in its Command Agriculture programme to increase output and eventually stop importing the crop.

The programme is targeting 60 000 hectares at an average yield of two tonnes per hectare.

Technical advisor for the Command Agriculture programme responsible for soyabeans, Professor Sheunesu Mpepereki said the targeted hectarage under the Command Soyabean had not been achieved.

“The targeted area of 60 000 hectares under soyabean was not achieved owing to logistical problems encountered last year,” he said.

“There was also a poor start to the season because the rains came later than usual and soyabean needs adequate rains for it to thrive.”

Prof Mupepereki said Government had mobilised seed on time but some farmers, especially in remote areas, had not been able to collect seed promptly from GMB depots.

“While this season’s soyabean production was not as well organised as we would have wanted, those that received seed did fairly well,” he said.

“And we hope that we will do better next season.”

Prof Mpepereki said plans were already underway to provide training to farmers and equip them with requisite technical knowledge on how best to grow the crop and increase their yields.

Zimbabwean farmers are producing an average of 30 000 tonnes of soya beans per year.