Farmers urged to keep soil moisture

FARMERS should properly manage irrigation water on their maturing winter crops, an Agritex official has advised.

Manicaland provincial agronomist Mr Thomas Sakuhuni said this in a recent interview with The Herald.

He said as the winter season approached its end, temperatures were beginning to rise especially in the Lowveld areas of the Manicaland province.

“Most of the crops are at flowering to grain filling stage hence the water requirementsof these crops is peaking and any moisture stress will affect expected yields and productivity,” said Mr Sakuhuni.

The crop specialist also made recommendations on how farmers can maintain soil moisture.

“Farmers have options they can use to determine when irrigation water should be applied and this includes the use of an auger to punch the soil and take a sample,” he said.

He described this method as the easiest to use to get a soil sample for assessment.

“From the sample a small lump is taken, moulded into a ball then squeezed to crush it.

“If it shows cracks that means the soil no longer has water to support plant functions and immediately requires irrigation water. Plants in such soils would already be showing signs of moisture stress,” he  said.

He said if the soil is sticky and does not crack then it means that the soil still has adequate water to support the plants.

Mr Sakuhuni also advised the better resourced farmers with farm weather stations to use the evaporation pan method.

“The evaporation pan method requires a farmer who has a graph of each land on which irrigation is applied to field capacity, to record quantities, with evaporation figures deducted each day to determine when another irrigation cycle is needed,” he said.

The most important thing farmers are urged to do is to maintain the soil water close to field capacity most of the time.

“The important thing is for farmers to maintain the soil water at or close to the field capacity most of the time,” said Mr Saku-                                                                                    huni.

As a general guideline, Mr Sakuhuni urged farmers to irrigate at least once a week to ensure a more vigorous plant development process up to maturity.