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Patrick Chitumba, [email protected]

DRY land farmers should consider replanting after their initial crop suffered from moisture stress due to the prolonged dry spell between November and December.

Weather projections indicate that Zimbabwe will this season receive below-normal to normal rainfall associated with extreme weather conditions such as heat waves and dry spells.

In an interview yesterday, agronomist Mr Ronnie Chigombe from SeedCo said farmers should take advantage of the wet conditions prevailing to replant if their crops have already failed.

“For November there were no rains to speak of and the bulk of the dry land farmers who engaged in early planting lost their crops. 

“Yes, most of the maize planted early was facing moisture stress but with the coming of the rains, we have seen that some maize crop is starting to show signs of survival,” he said. 

“But we have some crops, especially for dry land farmers which have started wilting. Those farmers are encouraged to start replanting but should also consider short-season varieties like SC419, SC 303or 301 as they quickly mature.”

Mr Chigombe said commercial farmers who have access to irrigation systems must consider planting high-yielding crops to produce more for the country.

“There was a time when there was high humidity, which affected crops but you find that for farmers with irrigation schemes, their crops are doing fairly well as compared to dry land farmers,” he said. 

“Some of them have started applying herbicides and some fertiliser but over and above we are saying those farmers with irrigation systems should use high-yielding varieties because they can control the environment.”

Mr Chigombe said farmers should prioritise the planting of drought-resistant crops suitable for their agroecological regions in fighting climate change.

“The promotion of small grains such as millet, sorghum, rapoko, and cowpeas has become topical due to their drought-tolerant characteristics. Small grains like sorghum and millet will result in food security by farmers from the household level,” he said. 

Mr Chigombe said farmers should engage agricultural extension officers and agronomists for proper use of pesticides to prevent loss of food production.

“Farmers should kill weeds and use pesticides to kill the fall armyworm, which threatens their harvest. Farmers are a business and there are challenges or setbacks like the unavailability of water but they would spread their risk,” he said. 

“We need proper agronomy skills for the farmers to have more yields so that they benefit from farming.”

Chief Ngungumbane from Mberengwa District said farmers have been busy in tilling the land.

Many villagers in the Midlands province have successfully potholed their plots under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme, which was followed by the distribution of farming inputs.

Farmers in the Midlands province who participated in the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme during the 2022/23 season recorded a good harvest because their crops were not affected by the dry spell.

The programme is hinged on three principles; crop rotation, mulching and minimum tillage and aims to boost yields, increase resilience to climate change negative impacts.

This season the programme is supporting five Pfumvudza/Intwasa plots per household with an agro-ecological region-specific crop input package for maize, sorghum, pearl millet, soya beans, sunflower, groundnuts, vegetables and African peas.

The Government distributed agricultural inputs under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme to match the agroecological regions to ensure optimum production and guarantee food security and income for all families.