Patrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
THE leading producer and marketer of certified crop seeds in Southern Africa, Seedco, has introduced a new early maturity seed maize variety to mitigate against unpredictable weather patterns in the country and Sadc region.

As the country is bracing for yet another drought in the 2015/2016 farming season after a prediction by the Southern African Regional Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF) of normal to below normal rainfall, Seedco agronomist Ronnie Chigombe said they were introducing SC301 seed among other seed varieties. He said SC301 was an ultra early maturity seed that matured in 55 days in Gokwe and 57 days in Mutoko which are marginal areas.

Chigombe said other seeds take between 120 to 160 days to mature.

“SC301 is suitable for regions 3, 4 and part of 5 and can do exceedingly well with less water. We also have SC 403, SC513 and SC 533 which also do well in regions 3 and 4,” he said while addressing farmers during a field day that was held at Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Precab farm, Sherwood Block, Kwekwe, on Friday.

“With SC301 we are saying our farmers in Matabeleland North and South and other regions where we always have less rainfall, this is the seed to plant. It does well with little water and in a short space of time; they would have food on their table.”

Chigombe said for commercial farmers, SC637, SC727 and SC719 were the best varieties which he said thrived under irrigation. He said seed maize was readily available on the market and urged farmers to plant early.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture responsible for crops, Cde Davis Marapira, told the same gathering that the government welcomed such innovations which are aimed at addressing the climate change challenges. He said as government they were looking at utilising the existing water bodies before plans are made to construct new water collection structures like dams.

Cde Marapira said there were many small, medium and big dams which he said were underutilised in the country.

“We want to make sure that all the water bodies are utilised as soon as possible before we proceed to develop new water bodies. In the Ministry we have a mechanisation department which is also looking at water storage. President Mugabe has spoken to the effect that irrigation development is the answer to the country’s food security and we want the two million hectares put under irrigation across the country as a matter of urgency,” he said.

The bleak forecast comes as Zimbabwe is yet to absorb the full impact of poor rainfall during the 2014/15 summer season which saw half of the crop being written off. Farmers were only able to produce 742,226 tonnes of maize against 1,456,153 tonnes produced across the country last season, causing a cumulative 56 percent drop in harvested maize.

The country is now expected to import 700,000 tonnes of maize from the neighbouring countries namely Zambia and South Africa to meet the deficit.