Dry spell to reduce yields

The dry spell that has hit Zimbabwe in the closing months of the 2018-2019 agricultural season is set to cut farmers yields in Mashonaland West province.

Agritex officials here say farmers with irrigation facilities will be able to salvage their yields after most crops suffered from moisture stress.

In an interview recently, acting provincial Agritex officer Mrs Siyena Makaza said the dry spell had dampened agricultural prospects.

“We are experiencing a bad season where rains have been erratic so far,” she said. “We have also been experiencing dry spells which have also affected the crops in the fields.”

Mrs Makaza said there were also some districts whose crops have been a complete write-off, although Agritex officials were conducting a second round crop assessment.

“Crop condition as of now is bad and the second crop assessment will give us accurate figures on the areas highly affected,” she said.

She said the erratic rains had also led to farmers reducing the area put under crops. “The yields will be affected by the dry conditions but we had also reduced the hectarage from 297 000ha in the previous season to 280 000ha in the 2018/2019 agricultural season,” she said.

The showers received in some parts on Mashonaland West Province did not make any significant contribution to the crops except some late planted crops, such as soyabeans, sweet potatoes and cow peas.

The late crops included soya beans, sweet potatoes and cowpeas.