Time to intensify preps for winter wheat harvesting
The Herald
31/8/2021
Obert Chifamba
Agri-Insight
THE 2021 winter wheat crop is at various stages of growth depending on when it was planted, thanks to the various circumstances in which the farmers found themselves when the season started.
Suffice it to say that every stage is currently represented, with the last lot to be planted maybe still at the vegetative stage or just graduated into the booting phase while the other bunch is at the milk dough stage with the first at the hard dough stage.
The bottom line, however, is that the crop is journeying towards maturity after which harvesting should start once the moisture content levels are deemed safe for the process.
For now, the farmers should be seized with making sure they apply adequate water until the crop reaches physiological maturity when grains would have filled up properly and adequately. It is exciting to note that Zesa has not been doing brutal load shedding, if what the farmers are saying is anything to go by.
There is also abundant water, thanks to the above normal rains that fell during the last half of the 2020/21 cropping season to leave all reservoirs full.
Besides ensuring that the wheat gets adequate water, it is also crucial for farmers to remove weeds from the ripening wheat.
Green weeds will tend to clog the harvester’s blades and require someone to constantly remove them while dried ones will add trash to the harvested wheat thereby compromising the quality. It is no rocket science that all the wheat has to be harvested before the onset of the next rain season hence the need for all farmers to start their preparations for harvesting in earnest. Wheat must, as the rule of thumb, be harvested before the rains start lest the falling number is compromised and the effect will be telling on the eventual yields.
Those farmers that have combine harvesters must be busy checking on their fitness for the job while those that do not have them should be making the necessary arrangements to hire.
Where hire charges may be punitive for individuals, it may make sense for farmers to pool resources and hire as a cluster then share the costs.
Individual farmers that have their own combines must also make sure even trailers are ready for the task to make sure there are no delays once harvesting starts while guarding against losses incurred during the process.
The good news is that Government is not leaving anything to chance and has since stepped in and mobilised 200 combine harvesters as part of efforts to give impetus to harvesting of the cereal to reduce harvesting losses and secure the crop in the process.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Anxious Masuka confirmed this development recently during a tour of wheat farms in Manicaland province when he encouraged farmers to be on high alert in the wake of an outbreak of Quelea birds that are threatening to ruin the expected harvest across the country.
Minister Masuka revealed that spot sprays would be done to control losses to Quelea birds, but this does not mean the farmers have to go to sleep and wait for Government to do that.
In fact, farmers should be proactive and initiate the spraying while deploying people to scare the birds away or even set up scare crows for the same purpose.
It is estimated that a single consumes between five and 10 grammes of wheat per day, which makes them very destructive given that they move in big batches.
On the one hand, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube also revealed that out of the targeted 1 300 tractors under the John Deere facility, 60 had so far been delivered while another 474 were delivered via the Belarus facility.
He made the revelations when he presented his 2021 Mid-Term Budget and Economic Review to parliament recently adding that Government was targeting to import 80 combine harvesters through the John Deere Facility with 18 having been delivered while out of the 60 targeted under the Belarus Facility, 49 have so far been delivered.
The Belarus and John Deere farm mechanisation programmes are meant to enhance production and productivity in the agriculture sector with mechanisation being singled out as part of the Government’s key policy thrust that will be enunciated in the Agriculture Food Systems Transformation Strategy, which seeks to transform the agriculture sector towards the attainment of Vision 2030 for Zimbabwe to become an upper middle income economy.
Farmers this season managed to plant 66 400 hectares of wheat nationally with the country targeting to produce a record of wheat yield ranging from 280 000 to 320 000 tonnes against the national requirement of 360 000 tonnes, which is reason enough for all the wheat that will be produced to be handled with extra care especially during harvesting.
The harvesting and storage process for most crops has in recent years has been marred by losses attributed to lack of preparedness on the part of farmers or even the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). In most cases farmers have failed to secure combine harvesters to reap the crop leaving it at the mercy of the early rains, veld fires and in some cases theft while some of it has been lost because of poor storage practices.
This requires farmers to also make sure they prepare facilities to hold the harvested wheat safely if they intend to send it to the GMB a day or so later after harvesting.
Those intending to send it to the GMB straight from the field without bagging it should warn GMB of their intentions in advance so that it prepares holding facilities for the safe storage of the wheat. One thing that should leave farmers smiling this time around is that the Government is going to help secure transport for the ferrying of wheat to the GMB as a way of addressing the perennial transport challenges that have given farmers sleepless nights each time the wheat is ready for harvesting and marketing. Current projections are that this year’s yields will be way better than last year’s so that excitement should not be spoiled through circumstances that can be avoided. Indications are that more farmers may be joining the Government’s command wheat programme next season as the country targets to meet the 360 000 metric tonnes national requirement so this excitement must not be dowsed by a poor showing this season.