Obert Chifamba Agri-Insight

TAKE a stroll in any direction today and you are sure to meet someone munching a maize cob.

If you have the guts, ask them if the cobs they are eating are from their fields and they will answer in the affirmative.

Such farmers are part of a group that heeded weather predictions for the 2019-20 farming season that were pointing in the direction of a season whose first half (October to December 2019) would have normal to above normal rains and planted early while the last half (January to March 2020) had been touted as the one that would have normal to below normal rains and therefore not the best to bank on.

Most farmers, whose maize crop survived  intermittent dry spells that characterised the greater part of the first half of the season, are now assured of getting decent yields to meet their domestic needs or even surplus.

Such an eventuality would be good because the farmers are most likely going to sell the surplus to colleagues that were unfortunate to have their crops decimated by the blistering heat or even the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and get a feel of the recently announced price of $6 598 per tonne.

In most cases, the farmers’ biggest undoing is harvesting, post-harvest and storage losses that can leave a once food secure family facing food insecurity.

Today, I will zero in on such losses, relief food and beneficiaries of relief food who abuse the privilege.

It is a sad reality.

Unsupervised harvesting, especially involving hired labour, has in many cases allowed a fraction of the crop being reaped to be lost as cobs that drop are not recovered, while plants that would have been down already may not be picked up as farmers will be rushing to meet set targets.

Such harvesters tend to leave maize cobs with rotten parts and only collect the good ones yet even the bad ones can be put to good use at the homestead, especially in feeding livestock that form part of the food security matrix.

Some losses occur during grain transportation from the fields.

The biggest losses usually happen when farmers think they have every grain safely stashed in granaries or whatever storage facility being used.

If the stored grain is not treated with chemicals to control pests such as weevils, then the entire harvest can easily get ruined while there are also threats of bigger vermin like rats and mice that need to be taken care of.

Farmers need to ensure that their storage facilities are secured from possible break-ins by thieves given that many people may not be able to get decent yields owing to the unruly weather that was part of the season.

There is also the risk of veld fires that have become perennial, in some cases starting even before the fire season starts in July.

It is crucial for farmers to make sure their storage facilities are free from materials like dry grass or leaves that may be used as vehicles by rampaging fires to get to the stored grain.

It is crucial for all the grain that will be harvested to be put to good use so that the burden to import maize is lessened on the part of the Government.

The Government and stakeholders will be out to make sure nobody starves, but their efforts need to be complemented by acting responsibly to save what is there and to avoid wanton selling of extra grain, as this has in many cases left once-food secure families food insecure.

It is disappointing to note that some people are in the habit of abusing food handouts they get from either the Government or humanitarian organisations, which is tantamount to shooting themselves in the foot should the benefactor discover such acts of ingratitude.

Last time, I was in Doma, just outside Mhangura in Mashonaland West Province with colleagues from work when we noticed many people milling around at the shops.

On enquiring, we were told that they were waiting for relief maize and one of my mates asked if there were people in the villages that were selling maize.

One elderly woman told him that people who were selling maize at some point were no longer doing so, but if he was not rushing, he could wait and buy from some of the people that were waiting for their relief maize.

Such people usually sold the maize as soon as they received it and splash the money on booze.

The old lady’s remarks were corroborated by a handful of other people who went further to add that farming inputs were easily accessible from such people each time they got them under the Government or other support programmes.

They told us the inputs abusers sold inputs for a song or sometimes at a price just enough to secure one or two beer measures before going home empty-handed.

The inputs could have made a difference in their lives if they had been put to proper use.

It is therefore becoming increasingly necessary for the powers that be to find ways of ensuring that such hypocrisy is not allowed to continue lest it offends the benevolent partners at some point and the aid may be stopped.

There are some community leaders in the habit of registering undeserving people that later sell the grain or inputs and share the spoils, the people told us.

In worst scenarios, leaders reportedly registered the deceased and minors. They work in cahoots with some people that collect the loot, sell it and then share the proceeds with the leaders. Shame upon such practices if they are happening!