Seed houses assure farmers

Elita Chikwati and Mary Muradzikwa
The Zimbabwe Seed Trade Association has assured farmers that it has maize seed varieties suitable for the low rainfall predicted by weather experts for the 2018-19 summer season.

The Meteorological Services Department last week predicted normal to below normal rainfall throughout the season from October 2018 to March  2019.

According to weather experts, the 2018-19 rainfall season is expected to be erratic in space and time.

The forecast is for total seasonal rainfall amount.

ZSTA chairman Mr Denias Zaranyika said there was no need for farmers to panic as the bulk of the available seed was early maturing varieties.

He said seed houses had already started delivering seed to different designated areas.

“Of all the seed we have in Zimbabwe, 50 percent is in the very early maturing variety which goes along with the forecasts that are being made and 43 percent is in the early to medium maturity stage which is also good for the situation that is being predicted and only three percent is in the late maturity stage,” he  said.

In his presentation at the Agribusiness Conference which was held on the sidelines of the just-ended Harare Agricultural Show last week, Mr Zaranyika said there was enough seed for the 2018-19 season.

He said the seed houses had started delivering the seed to the Government input programmes – the Presidential Input Support Scheme and Command Agriculture.

“As of August 28, 10 000 tonnes of seed had been delivered to the Government programmes, while 9 000 tonnes were delivered to the open market,” he   said.

Mr Zaranyika said there was maize seed to cater for 1 880 000 hectares, 80 000 hectares of wheat, 85 000 hectares of soyabeans, 28 000 hectares of millet, 250 000 hactares of white sorghum, 3 000 hectares of red sorghum, 13 000 hectares of groundnuts, 50 000 hecatres of cowpeas and 450 000 hectares of cotton.

“We are excited in that President Mnangagwa has so much interest in agriculture and we agree with him,” said Mr Zaranyika. “We are talking of growing Zimbabwe’s economy, we are talking agriculture, mining and tourism, but the core pillar is the agriculture     sector.

“What is fundamental to us is working with farmers, research insights to what our farmers would want to see. We are talking of research and development and we are churning out new products all the time.”

Mr Zaranyika said seed houses were also concentrating on agronomy and extension as high yields were associated with good quality seed, high performing seed and best practice.

He said there was need to improve on small grains production under the nutrition  thrust.

“As a country we are not doing well in small grains; we are also not doing well in sunflower and rice,” said Mr Zaranyika. “We should be producing rice for ourselves, so that we do not import a lot of rice from Asian countries, so that we do not use our foreign currency on food imports.”

The Tobacco Research Board also had enough seed to cater for three seasons.