Grow appropriate crops, farmers urged

Farmers in Mashonaland West Province should grow appropriate crops guided by their geographical location to overcome the effects of the El Nino phenomenon predicted by the Meteorological Services Department.

In an interview recently, Mashonaland West provincial crop and livestock officer Mrs Edna Shambare said the 2018-19 seasonal forecast for the province was normal to below normal rainfall from the period October 2018 to March 2019.

This, she said, means the province was likely to experience erratic rainfall.

“Marginalised areas such as Kariba, Sanyati and Makonde communal areas, which are in Natural Region IV, should have a bias towards short season varieties,” she said.

Farmers with irrigation infrastructure, Mrs Shambare said, should start planting in October so that they take advantage of the heat units.

“These farmers may go for the long season maize varieties but for rain fed cropping, October rains are generally erratic while effective and meaningful rains are expected at the end of November,” she said.

She also encouraged farmers to practice water or moisture conservative techniques in their fields to reduce runoff and increase water infiltration.

She said the farmers must ensure that their fields are free from weeds that may compete with their crops for the little moisture available.

“Operations like top dressing fertilizer application should be guided by 10 day weather forecasts that are broadcasted regularly,” Mrs Shambare said. In preparation for the 2018/19 agricultural season, Mashonaland West province has started distributing inputs under Government’s Command Agriculture and Presidential Inputs Support Scheme programmes.

The province is targeting 300 000ha under maize of which 130 000ha is under command.

Some farmers are also sourcing inputs from the open market and through commercial contracts.