Farmers should fully utilise first rains

Tweather forecast for the 2023/2024 summer cropping season points to a below normal to normal rainfall season, putting to the fore the need for concrete strategies to minimise the impact of the El Niño phenomenon in agriculture, which is our economic bedrock.

We are in the first week of November, and farmers should either be planting or intensifying their land preparations. It is at this juncture that farmers should be fully prepared for the next crop.

It is either now or never.

With the projected rainfall, this calls for early planting of short season varieties.

Short season seed varieties will maximise on the moisture content. Farmers should also go for traditional grains which are resilient and can be sustained by reduced levels of rain.

Those who miss the early rains will technically be out of the game. This is why we insist that planning beforehand helps farmers to manage risk and work towards achieving set targets.

Since a greater percentage of farming in Manicaland is rain-fed, farmers should be cautious of the impact of the rainfall distribution.

However, farmers need to remember that forecasts are only forecasts and the season can still go either way.

Farmers should adopt as many principles of Pfumvudza as possible because experience has shown that when applied properly, conservation agriculture can be useful in mitigating the challenges with reduced levels of rain.

Farmers should focus on mulching to conserve water and control weeds. This should be supplemented by other water-harvesting technologies.

Pfumvudza is also part of the precision agriculture model which Government is promoting. This means that the planting basins must be dug on time, fertiliser and other chemicals must be applied on time and mulching must be done on time to cover all the areas.

Pfumvudza is supposed to alleviate draught power challenges faced by farmers who lost their cattle to January Disease.

With Pfumvudza meant to ensure household food and nutrition security first before thinking about the market, all farmers need to have vibrant Pfumvudza plots to rely on should the season go otherwise.

At least there will be some food on the table. Government has done its part by ensuring that Pfumvudza inputs are delivered and distributed ahead of the rains.

At least farmers have somewhere to start from.

We also implore the private sector and development partners to come on board and assist with financial, technical and infrastructural resources.

Seed, fertiliser and chemical companies should play the ball in good faith.

These inputs should be enough to meet farmers’ requirements and readily available at affordable prices and within the vicinity of the farmers across the province. Inputs should be at every farmer’s doorstep so that farmers do not waste time and incur additional costs in purchasing them.

We also advise against last minute rushes to import top-dressing fertiliser.

Why should top-dressing fertiliser always remain a challenge in terms of availability and its cost?

We thank Government for hastening to climate proof our agriculture through the completion of key irrigation projects, especially in drier areas of the province like Nzvimbe and Chitemene, Nyakomba, Nyanyadzi and Musikavanhu as part of a host of measures to ameliorate negative effects of El Nino.

Whether there is El Nino or not, we should come up with a formula for climate proofing the agriculture sector.

Reduction of tariffs for raw irrigation water by 31 percent must also be commended.

Irrigation now plays a pivotal role in the face of climate change since it is now difficult to rely on rain-fed agriculture.