Deputy Minister Davis Marapira
Brenda Ziga Herald Reporter
Government has urged wheat farmers to use of plastic money to buy inputs to meet the wheat planting deadline, an official has said.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Deputy Minister (Crops and Irrigation) Davis Marapira said wheat farmers should use bank transfers to buy inputs.
“Wheat farmers should run away from the use of hard cash; they should use plastic money or to do bank transfers to buy their inputs.
“They should do this to meet the deadline for winter wheat planting instead of waiting for them to be given cash to buy inputs,” he said.
This comes as some farmers were complaining that they were failing to access wheat funding in time to meet planting deadlines despite the banks having approved their loan applications.
Deputy Minister Marapira also encouraged farmers to open bank accounts for their farm workers.
“I also encourage farmers to open bank accounts for their farm workers for easy money transfer and encourage them also to use plastic money,” he said.
Recently, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made urged wheat farmers to continue planting until June 21.
Wheat has been traditionally planted from April to mid-May, but Government extended the dates up to June 21.
Dr Made encouraged farmers that are harvesting maize to put their land under wheat production.
“You can see the intensity of the cold weather.
“I really want to encourage those farmers who are planting to continue. Sometimes we are giving misleading information that this is the end of the planting season for wheat.
“No, farmers can continue planting up to about 21st of June minus seven days to allow seven days of germination when it is a little bit cold,” he said.
Dr Made encouraged farmers to plant other crops such as potatoes and to prepare for winter maize production as soon as the cold weather lifts in July so that it will be ready for harvest around November.
Winter cropping is expected to boost food security following low summer crop production due to El-Nino.