Water challenges: More boreholes for Midlands
THE District Development Fund (DDF) is set to sink 20 new boreholes here before year end as the Government moves to avert water challenges affecting humans and livestock.
District Development Coordinator for Midlands Mrs Molly Shonhiwa said the project would also see the rehabilitation of existing water facilities as the Government moves to avert water challenges caused by climate challenges.
“It is our responsibility as a department to provide water facilities in the communal areas. For that reason we are targeting to sink about 20 boreholes across the provinces in 2019,” she said.
Although the number of water facilities set for resuscitation could not be ascertained, Mrs Shonhiwa said her department was moving to rehabilitate broken down boreholes as well as deepen existing boreholes.
“There is nothing really that we can do about climate change, the only thing we can do is to ensure that we deepen the existing boreholes to ensure that they reach the receding water table. There are, however, some areas where water facilities are far and we are moving in to sink new boreholes so that people will not have to travel longer distances to access water,” she said.
Mrs Shonhiwa said, while she appreciated that climate change had caused serious problems not only in the province, but across the country, they were going to do all they can to ensure that humans and livestock access clean water.
“We really appreciate that due to the weather patterns that have changed water facilities have become a problem, but resources permitting, we are going to ensure that there is water for all the communities so that every human being as well as livestock has access to water,” she said
Mrs Shonhiwa also urged villagers to desist from stream bank cultivation as it worsened the situation due to siltation.
“The water situation has resulted in some people moving to stream banks. But I want to urge villagers to avoid staying along riverbanks as it results in siltation of water bodies resulting in even increased problems in the future as we will need to de-silt the water bodies,” she said.
The timely intervention is set to ease water woes in the province mainly as a result of low rainfall patterns during the 2018-19 summer season owing to climate change.
FARMERS have started preparations for the 2019-2020 summer cropping season, with many voicing concern over relentless increases in prices of inputs, which they fear if not addressed on time, may affect production.
Inputs suppliers have distributed seed, fertilisers and chemicals to retailers near to farming areas for easy access by farmers.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) director Mr Paul Zakariya said preparations for the summer cropping season were underway and most farmers were contemplating shifting to cash crops.
He urged farmers not to be discouraged by the rainfall forecast as it was a bit better than last year.
“Farmers are worried by the prices of inputs. They are no longer making sense. Producer prices have not been adjusted and this will affect production. There are indications that farmers are shifting to high value horticultural crops instead of grains.
“Inputs are readily available in retail outlets, but it the high costs that is affecting farmers. ZFU has engaged input suppliers to see how we can come up with a solution to the challenge of high prices, but they are also complaining of electricity and say they now rely more on generators which is costly.
“Farmers who benefit from Government inputs schemes are likely to grow maize while Herald Reporter
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Deputy Governor Dr Jesimen Chipika has called for an increase in productivity across all economic sectors, and consequently exports, if the country is to overcome foreign currency shortages.
She said this while fielding questions during a panel discussion on the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) at the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators in Zimbabwe annual conference in Victoria Falls last week.
She said the high demand for forex, against limited supply due to low exports, was partly to blame for the fluctuating exchange rate. Ellen Chasokela
GOVERNMENT has hailed the role played by women in the conservation and sustainable utilisation of local crop seed varieties which are increasingly disappearing due to several factors.
Opening the Chomazumba Community Seed Bank ( recently, Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Minister Perrance Shiri in a speech read on his behalf by Dr Dumisani Kutywayo, said the will help in ensuring that local crop seed varieties are kept safe for future use by next generations.
“I am informed women made a vital role in the construction of this and this is so because they are the ones who are mostly involved in seed conservation, management and use. They contribute in selecting seed in the field, during and after harvest and in seed and food fairs,”
those who are self-financed farmers are looking at cash crops and export crops,” he said.
Mr Zakariya also expressed concern over poor availability of fuel and said farmers were spending time queuing for the diesel for land preparations.
Zimbabwe Seed Traders Association
“We need higher productivity in all sectors. We need more exports,” she said, adding that Zimbabwe lacked the financial support that other countries enjoyed from international financial institutions.
Speaking on cash shortages, Dr Chipika said fact that over 90 percent of transactions were now electronic was a good development.
Dr Chipika said the RBZ intended to provide banks with more cash, but would only do so gradually, and in exchange for RTGS balances in the banks to minimise inflationary effects.
She added that although cash was still needed for some small transactions, some depositors that queue at banks to access cash he said.
“The local knowledge on how to manage and process these crops into nutritious dishes has been passed from one generation to the next, in most cases women farmers have taken a very active role.
“We should take this opportunity to celebrate the role that women have played and continue to play in this important role. The wide crop diversity displayed at the Seed and Food Fair is to a large extent managed by women smallholder farmers.’’
Community Technology Development Organization ( a local non-governmental organisation, constructed the at a cost of 25 000 in Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe District in Mashonaland East province.
This was constructed with financial support from Oxfam Novib under
president, Mr Amon Mwashaireni said seed uptake was still low and they expected sales to pick early October.
“Inputs costs are going up weekly and its not going to be easy for farmers this year. Government programmes — Command Agriculture and Presidential Inputs Scheme were doing so for speculative purposes.
United Refineries Limited chief executive officer Mr Busisa Moyo said the manufacturing sector is struggling as demand has waned significantly.
Mr Moyo said most factories were running at 50 to 60 percent of capacity utilisation. Due to a number of challenges confronting the economy, results of the manufacturing sector survey set to be released in November are expected to show that capacity for the year was between 40 to 50 percent.
Mr Moyo said there were supply problems due to low output, with farmers also not providing sufficient raw materials.
Manufacturers had the capacity to crush 400 000 tonnes of soya beans, but farmers were only producing 35 000 tonnes, less than 10 percent of the crushing capacity.
He said while industry appreciated the positive impact the 2 percent transactional tax was having on Government revenue, and that it was a way of taxing the informal sector, the tax was negatively affecting the formal sector which he argued was overtaxed.
He proposed that formal sector businesses be exempted from paying the tax. Mr Moyo said he hopes the benefits of the TSP would have started to trickle down to ordinary people by early next year. The TSP runs from October last year to December 2020 and is set to be replaced by a new five-year blueprint. a project which aims to empower local people and smallholder farmers to promote the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and nutrition security under conditions of climate change.
This newly-constructed seed bank will become a depot for collection of produce for the market and will also act as an information centre where youths will access information on agriculture, climate change, policy and gender issues.
Minister Shiri hailed the programme for helping to strengthen the conservation of the country’s plant and food crop diversity critical to the country’s food and nutrition security as well as improving livelihoods. director Mr Andrew Mushita said the facility can act as a seed reserve for surrounding communities in case of crop failures due to droughts, floods or any other catastrophe.
— will save the situation. We encourage farmers to grow small grains,” he said.
Fertiliser industry spokesman Mr Tapiwa Mashingaidze said fertiliser was available in retail outlets although sales were still suppressed.
“Sales are still low because of the high prices. We are trying to see what we can do to help farmers,” he said.
The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement meets regularly with all players in the agricultural sector as well as captains of industry to see how they make farming activities remain feasible and profitable for farmers.
After assessing the costs associated with farming of various grains, the Ministry recently proposed new producer prices for grains.
President Mnangagwa recently said Government will continue to revise agricultural producer prices to ensure maximum benefits to farmers and viability of the industry.