Internet critical for farmers
Companies & Markets
October 6, 2016By Own Correspondent
Minister of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Postal and Courier Services, Supa Mandiwanzira
By Farai Mabeza
A METEOROLOGICAL Services Department (MSD) season outlook for 2016-2017 has predicted a wet and early rainy season.
The forecast said after normal to above normal rains for the whole country between October and December 2016, the weather was expected to gravitate towards drier conditions between November and December for Regions I and II.
The MSD said the trend would persist for Region II between December 2016 and January 2017, while Region III would enjoy a good season as it was expected to receive normal to above normal rainfall for the first half of the season.
This is good news for a country that is coming out of a drought year.
But it raises a few questions for farmers.
Firstly, how many farmers actually understand what is being said, with the exception of established commercial farmers who are in the minority?
How many know what Region I or II means or even what is meant by normal to above normal rainfall?
Then there is the question of access.
Do the farmers have access to this information?
The forecast has been made.
How many know what it says?
“I don’t know of any rainfall forecast. I haven’t heard anything about that,” said peri-urban farmer Kudzai Mwayera from Harare’s Hatcliffe suburb who represents a farming group which has become vital to food security.
“The decline in production over the past 15 years or so could easily have been avoided had farmers been privy to world trends on the market,” Minister of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Postal and Courier Services, Supa Mandiwanzira, said recently in Hurungwe.
Mandiwanzira emphasised that access to information was vital to help kick start productivity.
In 2000, government began the forcible takeover of white owned farms.
But the inexperience of the new farmers led to the collapse of the agricultural sector and the country’s economy which was agro based.
Many of the farmers resettled under the A2 scheme, reserved for commercial farming, have attributed poor productivity to lack of collateral and the consequent high cost of borrowing.
The banking sector has refused to fund farmers who do not have title deeds on a large scale because it is too risky.
As a result modern technology has remained out of reach for most of the farmers at a time farming methods have progressed significantly worldwide where concepts such as drip irrigation are now widespread because they save water and are highly productive.
“Now in the face of climate change, farmers need to understand such survival methods and all this is available on the internet,” said Mandiwanzira, who was represented by his deputy, Win Mlambo, in the commissioning of a new base station by mobile network operator, NetOne.
Hurungwe used to be a major producer of paprika, tobacco, cotton, and maize.
At one stage Zimbabwe was the third largest producer of paprika in the world competing with India and China.
Mandiwanzira said access to information would help to “eliminate unnecessary middlemen who have perennially reaped where they did not sow”.
Through mobile phones, farmers can receive customised alerts on such things as market data and access information on changing weather patterns and soil conditions as well as pests and crop disease epidemics.
Economist John Robertson told the Financial Gazette’s Agricultural News that government had underestimated the demands of farming when it carried out its land reform.
“It’s a very complex subject. Any farmer needs capital. They need to borrow therefore they need security. Government denied farmers access to bank finance when they denied them title deeds,” he said.
Government has said instead of title deeds farmers would receive 99 year leases but these have been slow in coming and have been rejected by the banks.
“It takes generations to build a good farm,” said Robertson.
Farmers also need to be taught how to use the internet and some of the terminology needs to be simplified.