THE El Nino induced drought contributed significantly to the decline in the national hectarage under maize during the 2015/2016 agricultural year, available statistics indicate.
In areas such as Masvingo province, farmers managed to plant about 60 000 hectares of maize, a huge decline from last year’s production of 195 000 hectares and over 200 000 hectares during the 2013/2014 season.
From the 2015 mid-year fiscal policy statement, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa indicated that the 2015/2016 agricultural season had targeted a total of 2,1 million hectares for grain crops, of which 1,7 million hectares was for maize and about 485 000 hectares for small grains.
The reduction to 1,7 million hectares was due to rainfall uncertainty in the wake of a predicted El Nino.
Statistics from the Food and Agricultural Organisation in the Zimbabwe Farmer’s Weekly Guide show that in all provinces, there was a significant decline in area planted under maize, with reports in some provinces showing that some farmers did not even make preparations for the 2015/2016 cropping season.
“There seems to be a significant decline in the area placed under maize especially in the 2015/2016 season with Matabeleland South being the least. Midlands and the Mashonaland provinces have the highest amount though it is below area covered in the previous seasons,” the report said.
Matabeleland South, the worst affected region, planted less than 50 000 hectares of maize at about 20 000 hectares, a massive decline from last year’s hectarage of 100 000 hectares.
The effects of the drought in the region resulted in 65 percent of the crops in the region being declared a write off.
Midlands province, which planted 250 000 hectares of maize in the 2013/2014 agricultural year, planted some 160 000 hectares of which part of the crop especially in the southern parts of the province have permanently wilted.
Mashonaland West, which is well known for producing highest yields of maize, reduced its hectarage from over 250 000 hectares to about 120 000 hectares.
The reduction in production comes hot on the heels of a poor 2014/2015 season, where crops were severely affected by drought and crop yields declined, with yield per hectare in maize declining from 0,85 tonnes to 0,48 tonnes per hectare.
The decline in agricultural performance for the 2014/15 season was attributed to the combined effects of the late onset of rains and its poor distribution, including the high cost of borrowed financing under the current environment of liquidity constraints.
Significantly suppressed and poorly distributed seasonal rainfall since October has negatively affected many countries in southern Africa. Exacerbated by a poor rainfall performance last year, several consecutive weeks of below-average rainfall have led to reduced water availability, permanently wilted crops, major reductions in planted areas and livestock deaths.
About 95 percent of the country has only received 75 percent of the average rainfall that is typically received by mid-February. Matabeleland North, South, and Masvingo provinces in the southern region of the country have received less than 50 percent of average rainfall amounts.
These dry conditions are in line with the national forecast of continued below average rainfall during the second half of the 2015/16 rainfall season.
According to the Standardised Precipitation Index, which monitors the severity of drought events, this season is ranked as the driest in 35 years across several parts of the country.
The very dry conditions and high temperatures have caused low water supply across the country, especially the southern region. Last month, dams were only at half of their normal capacity and 31 percent of the boreholes had dried.
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