Herald Reporter
The agriculture industry must stimulate production of traditional grains by exploring lucrative markets and entering into contract farming arrangements for the drought-tolerant crops that can be used for both household consumption and stock feed manufacturing.

Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said this while addressing farmers at Dr Howard Marowa’s farm in Chitomborwizi, Makonde, yesterday.

VP Chiwenga was accompanied by Lands, Agriculture Water and Rural Resettlement Minister Perrance Shiri, Minister of State for Mashonaland West Mary Mliswa-Chikoka, Finance and Economic Development Deputy Minister Clemence Chiduwa, and Energy and Power Development Deputy Minister Magna Mudyiwa, among other Government officials.

VP Chiwenga’s day started with a tour of a wheat crop under irrigation.

He said as a survival strategy, Government was mooting the idea of going full throttle on the growing of traditional grains such as sorghum, millet and rapoko.

“Such crops are renowned for their resilience and drought tolerance,” said VP Chiwenga.

“Let us bear in mind that traditional grains do not only withstand unfavourable rainfall conditions, but also require less fertiliser on their production, hence are cheaper to produce.

“I, therefore, urge as many farmers as possible to consider growing traditional grains, since they are a sure way of mitigating the effects of climate change, such as drought.”

Government has set producer prices of traditional grains above the producer price of maize.

For the 2020-21 grain marketing season, the price of maize has been set at $12 329,72 a tonne, while traditional grains are at $12 865,79 a tonne.

VP Chiwenga said another programme aimed at ensuring food security and self-sustenance was that for winter wheat, which is targeting to produce 416 000 tonnes of wheat from 80 000 hectares.

He said Government was strongly recommending increased local production of wheat through the winter wheat programme to reduce dependence on imports.

“Government is encouraging all those with irrigation infrastructure, water and free land to come on-board and take up winter wheat cropping programme,” said VP Chiwenga.

“There is a huge global market for wheat as compared to maize. As Zimbabwe, we have a high competitive advantage in wheat production, in that we have rich soil and vast land, adequate water, a favourable climate and the necessary expertise to pursue our farming adventures.”

VP Chiwenga urged farmers to plant winter wheat during the planting window to maximise on the cool temperatures.

VP Chiwenga visited Avalon Farm where he was impressed by the farmer’s use of renewable energy.

He encouraged other farmers to emulate the practice and invest in solar energy to reduce over reliance on electricity.

Avalon Farm has 384 panels that have a very high output even under low light conditions.

The system produces 152 kilowatts used for pumping water to irrigate wheat.

The farmer owner, Mr Steven Swanapoel, said using solar energy was the best way as it reduced costs of production.

“The system is like an insurance policy to get the water where it should go,” he said.

“We no longer rely on Zesa electricity.”