Marvelous Moyo Gwanda Correspondent
AGRICULTURE experts are carrying out a second round of the crop assessment programme in Matabeleland South Province to quantify possible yield the province is likely to realise for the 2014/15 farming season, provincial administrator, Midard Khumalo, has said.

Khumalo said yesterday experts were already on the ground assessing the crop situation in the districts.

He said the assessment programme would help the province plan how much food should be requested from government for the people.

“The crop assessment programme is going on. The initial one has already been made which really has raised our awareness in terms of impending food shortages in the province, but now they will quantify the possible yields.

“Basically the picture we got from the initial report is very gloomy and not much is promising in terms of the yields,” said Khumalo.

According to the report on the first round of the crop situation in the province, five percent of the crop planted this season was in a good state while 45 percent was a write-off.

The report also revealed that 30 percent of the crop had wilted while 20 percent was in fair condition.

Beitbridge district was the worst affected with 80 percent of the crop a write-off while 20 percent was wilting.

Gwanda district was second with 79 percent of the crop now a write-off, 19 percent wilted and only two percent in fair condition.

The worrying state of the crop situation in the province is a result of poor rains received this farming season. Even the small grains such as sorghum and millet failed to perform well due to the prolonged dry spell.

“In light of these observations, what is it that we want now? As the Provincial Development Committee (PDC) with our subcommittee on drought relief, we need to bring awareness both to the central government and the communities around. Where measures can be put in place at community level, the active involvement of communities should be sought,” Khumalo said.

He said various departments would on Monday next week present reports of their own assessments of the situation and help map the way forward for the province.

“Departments will look at all the districts in the province and indicate in terms of food security what their respective departments have assessed. They also will indicate the magnitude of that problem and come up with possible solutions on how best we can mitigate the situation so that it doesn’t turn into a disaster,” said Khumalo.

Traditional leaders in the province recently bemoaned the poor crop situation and called for government intervention to save both people and livestock.