Wheat harvesting in full throttle

WHEAT harvesting is in full throttle, with the province on track for a record yield as farmers are reportedly getting an average yield of five tonnes per hectare.

Commercial farmers are harvesting between seven and nine tonnes per hectare.

This season, the province planted 11 000 hectares.

Harvesting started early this month, with 17 combine harvesters mobilised from AFC Leasing Company and private owners.

The combine harvesters are currently busy in the fields, working round the clock to beat the onset of the summer season.

The cereal crop is susceptible to moisture as it reduces its baking quality.

Moisture can also lead to mycotoxins toxic compounds produced when grain molds.

Deputy Director for Agricultural Advisory and Rural Development Services (Manicaland), Mr Nomatter Manunure said harvesting of the early planted wheat is already underway.

“The provincial average yield is five tonnes per hectare, but we have some farmers getting a maximum of seven to nine tonnes per hectare. We are looking forward to the highest yield ever for Manicaland Province.”

Manicaland provincial mechanisation engineer, Mr Nhlanhla Magama said it costs about US$90 to harvest a hectare of wheat.

The bumper harvest was achieved thanks to the Presidential Inputs Scheme which was strategically deployed to support farmers to meet national food requirements, fill up strategic grain reserves and save foreign currency.

The scheme is accounting for 70 percent of the targeted hectarage, with beneficiaries receiving US$700 worth of inputs per hectare for free.

Farmers received Compound D, Ammonium Nitrate, wheat seed and chemicals for up to seven hectares.

This pushed the winter wheat uptake. These interventions have since been applauded by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for effectively building farmers’resilience and enhancing national food security.

The record wheat production will enhance self-sufficiency of the cereal crop and eliminate dependence on imports, given the prevailing global supply disruptions and uncertainties created by the ongoing skirmishes in Eastern Europe.

The cereal crop will be purchased by Government through the GMB.

Government has set the wheat marketing price for the 2023 agricultural season at US$520.25 per tonne, payable as 75:25 (USD: ZWL).

The pre-planting producer price was US$520 per tonne. The import parity price for wheat ranges from US$344 to US$462 per tonne.

Last season, the producer price of premium wheat was pegged at $268 048 plus US$200, while the BS, U1 and 2 price was set at $243 680 plus US$200 per tonne.

Middle Sabi Farmers’Association chairperson, Mr Skhumbuzo Thondhlana said they are expecting improved yields this year.

He commended Government’s mechanisation drive, adding that combine harvesters are readily available, while plans are afoot to import more tractors.