Pen your year out
The beginning of a new year carries with it a feeling of renewed hope.
It brings a sense of reinvigoration. Unfortunately for 2022, the year has started on a bad note for many farmers.
Most parts of the country have hardly received any significant rain.
The little rains that have fallen have actually been a curse, causing the seed that was dry planted to rot as they did not have enough moisture to induce germination. Many crops were aborted.
It is back to the drawing board for many farmers and there are fears that this year could actually be a drought.
A failed cropping year has serious downstream effects in that even livestock will not have enough supplementary feed.
If our crops like katambora grass, lucerne, rapoko, soya beans and millet fail to grow, we will end up importing them at inflated prices causing the price of meat to rise.
The same can be said of wheat.
If the crop fails and we have to import it, it means we will have a bread shortage which will cause prices to spike.
Of course, not all hope is lost as there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel as rain expectations are still rife.
So whilst we are still living in the hope of heavier rains, it is imperative that farmers plan their year out.
True to the old adage “failing to plan is planning to fail”, if a farmer does not sit down to pen out what he sets out to do in the year, he/she is set for disappointment and disaster.
Planning must however be followed by action so that the set target is achieved.
If for example one wants to increase their herd of cattle by eight by year end, the farmer must make a comprehensive plan that will indicate whether it is feasible to do that with the available resources.
There is a need to look at the infrastructure to support the intended additional growth in the herd.
In addition, the farmer also needs to plan on the vaccines and other chemicals that the cattle would require.
At this juncture, the farmer must then also conclude on whether he is going to purchase the new beasts or he will wait for the one that he already has to give birth.
This is greatly determined by the size and age of the new eight cattle he wants.
Above all else, the farmer needs to worry about the herdsman if he is capable of taking care of an additional herd.
All these must be planned as the year begins.
In cropping, one requires a proper calendar so that they can produce crops when they are actually in high demand.
The other thing is also to fully utilise the land that they have since most crops occupy a field for not more than 4 months.
It means a field may actually accommodate three crops in a year if there is proper planning.
For example a field of two hectares can have peas from January to April.
In winter, (May to August) the same field can have onions or garlic or cabbages, or all of them depending on what the market will be requiring.
This however means that the winter crop must have been planted in the nursery six weeks before May.
In September, the same field can have any summer crop like fine beans, butternut, tomatoes, green mealies, watermelons and many others.
Considering the fact that most of these crops take 90 days to mature, it means that by December you will be harvesting the crop. One can repeat the cycle because in a way it is crop rotation which is very good for the soil’s profile.
The most important factor in this is water, which must be in good supply.
Such planning gives the farmer hindsight into marketing trends and demands and gives room for improvement because you can always forgo some plans if there are hindering factors.
Currently, climate change has caused untold suffering to the farming community as there are always unexpected changes to the customary weather patterns.
Last year, farmers in Macheke were left licking their wounds after a severe frost hit them in late September.
It was unexpected.
Most of the farmers in the area are into tomato production.
The area has a high water table and various water sources. Its proximity to the country’s eastern neighbour Mozambique has meant that they can easily sell their wares in the war-torn country.
In fact, it is the Mozambican fresh produce merchants who actually cross into Zimbabwe to get fresh produce for their kith and kin.
The most sought after product is the tomato and hence many farmers in the area specialise in its production.
In summer the demand is usually high because only those with good water sources can produce them.
This has brought brisk business to Macheke farmers.
Usually they avoid planting the crop between May and July because they fear frost. Tomatoes are very susceptible to frost. However, in the 2019/20 season, many farmers suffered losses because the frost came later than usual.
Those that had not made annual plans did not have a backup plan and it became very difficult for them to recover the losses.
The one who had made plans in good time went for early maturity crops like fine beans and were in the market in time for the Christmas buzz.
This meant that the farmers were able to reduce the gap in cash flows.
Of course you will not be able to get as much as you were supposed to get with the tomato but you can recover the money you had put in inputs for the tomatoes.
Better still, some top dressing fertilisers and chemicals would not have been used so one can put them on the new recovery crop hence using less money for the inputs.
So, planning really does help and every farmer is encouraged to have a diary to chronicle all events at the farm as well as plan for the year ahead.
Hopefully 2022 will be that year that will bring joy to all farmers.