BULAWAYO – Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) president, Abdul Nyathi, says prospects of a bumper harvest this year have diminished due to floods which have affected crops in most parts of the country. Floods that hit the country in December were followed by a prolonged dry spell that ended with floods again last week. In the 2013-2014 summer cropping season, most parts of the country, including the drought-prone Matabeleland South region, registered a good harvest but this time around the situation is likely to be different.“There is no bumper harvest to talk about this year; there is no hope,” Nyathi said.

He said apart from the devastating floods and the dry spell, farmers also had serious fertiliser and other farming input challenges. Nyathi said when the rains finally fell late last week some crops especially maize had reached a very critical stage, something he said would reduce the 2014-2015 yields.

“Most farmers had grown maize and the crop had reached a permanent wilting stage,” said the ZFU president.

“It’s only the few who had grown small grains like sorghum, whose harvest is likely to be substantial.”

He said the planting season was already over, notwithstanding the current rains, adding farmers will have to wait for the next season before they could plant again. Matabeleland North agronomist, Davison Masendeke, also acknowledged that it was already too late for farmers to replant, arguing the season was already far spent. Masendeke said more rains were still needed to ensure speedy recovery of the early planted maize crop that was already at a critical stage.

Zimbabwe’s national annual maize requirement is 1,8 million tonnes. Agriculture, which arguably remains the country’s economic mainstay, grew by 23, 4 percent in 2014 and is this year’s projected to grow at 3, 4 percent.
[email protected]