IT seems the growing calls on the need for farmers across the country — from marginal to high potential zones — to incorporate traditional grains in their cropping options are falling on fertile ground, if what came out of the second national crop and livestock assessment report is anything to go by.

Traditional grains output for the 2019/2020 season is estimated at 152 515 tonnes, which is 103 percent more compared to 75 209 tonnes scored in the 2018/2019 term.

Of course, the increase has largely been attributed to increased support from the Presidential Input Support Scheme, encouragement by the Ministry of Agriculture, as well capacity building of farmers.

The reality on the ground suggests that it takes a willing farmer to grow and take care of the crop even if the whole world calls for its production.

If farmers had not embraced the traditional grains, no one was going to enforce their production, so they deserve their kudos for the feat.

Let’s hope that the fact that this crop genre is drought tolerant and matures earlier than crops like maize will endear it to most growers, which will translate into more food security.

Traditional grains are ideal for the country’s drought prone regions like Matabeleland region, Masvingo, parts of Mashonaland Central and bits of Manicaland.

It is exciting to note that blue chip companies like Delta and Ingwebu are doing out-grower schemes or contracting growers, while the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) can also do exchanges of traditional grains for maize at a matching weight.

The Government recently added the icing to the cake when it set the producer price of a tonne of traditional grains at $21 913, which makes them even more lucrative than maize that is selling for $21 000 per tonne, while their low cost of production makes them more attractive given that farmers are in business and want to maximise on profits.

Sorghum production, for instance, is expected to be 103 684 tonnes this season, which is 158 percent more than the 40 215 tonnes obtained in the 2018/2019 season.

Finger millet production is expected to be at 9 799 tonnes, which marks a 41 percent increase from the slightly more than 6 947 tonnes produced in the 2018/2019 season.

Additionally, pearl millet output is expected to be at 39 032 tonnes, which is 39 percent more than the 28 047 tonnes harvested for the 2018/2019 season.

Hectarage for sorghum and the output substantially increased in the current season due to increased support from the Government through the Presidential Input Support Scheme.

Essentially, production increased by 158 percent from 40 125 tonnes produced in the 2018/2019 season to the 103 684 tonnes scored in the current season.

One exciting observation was that it was the communal sector that largely dominated sorghum production, accounting for 78 percent of total production, although the average yields for the sector are still low compared to their A2, small-scale and old resettlement farming counterparts.

With more support both materially and in terms of extension, communal farmers can still produce more and like always retain their role as producers of most of the country’s food.

Pearl millet on the other hand increased in both area and production in the current season due to increased Government support under the Presidential Input Support Scheme, which saw production increasing from 28 046 tonnes in the 2018/2019 season to 39 032 tonnes netted in the current season. This represents a 39 percent increase in output.

Again, the communal sector contributed 34 700 tonnes, which is about 89 percent of the total production.

Of course, yield levels of pearl millet are still very low compared to available commercial varieties but can easily rise with more agronomic instruction and resource support.

Output for finger millet also shot from the 6 947 tonnes produced in the 2018/2019 season to 9 799 tonnes for the 2019/20 term although the yield levels remain low at 0,28 tonnes per hectare.

Finger millet production remains largely dominated by the communal sector, but yield levels have remained very low across all sectors.

Mashonaland East province stole the limelight in the production of groundnuts and was followed by Midlands.

Groundnut production increased from 70 902 tonnes to 87 498 tonnes, which marked a 23 percent increase with average yields of 0.42 tonnes per hectare.

The estimated roundnut output went against the set trend by other crops when it dropped by 19 percent from 29 396 tonnes harvested in the 2018/2019 season to 23 832 tonnes in the 2019/2020 season.

The decrease is a result of reduced area planted under the crop, something that was attributed to poor spatial and temporal rainfall distribution, which may have hindered planting by most farmers in traditional roundnut growing areas.

Estimated cowpea production for 2019/2020 season stands at 18 430 tonnes, a 26 percent increase from 14 655 tonnes achieved in the 2018/2019 cropping season.

There was an increase in the area put under the crop, thanks to the Presidential Input Support Scheme that enabled many resource-constrained farmers to find something to plant, while drought mitigation response programmes rolled out by Government’s development partners and other organisations involved in farming also helped to make the difference.

Traditional grains and maize complement each other, but the advantage of traditional grains in marginal regions is that they are drought tolerant, they have fibrous roots or even tap roots that go deep and extract moisture at the bottom of the soil — the permanent moisture.

They are bred to resist dry spells so they can yield some grains even when the season is not a good one.

Large grain crops tend to give in easily to dry spells and can easily wither before drying in the event of a temporal drought.

Traditional grains may also be affected by dry spells, especially in yields and therefore need mitigatory measures similar to those applied to large grain crops to maintain potential yields.

Sorghum can even yield 10 tonnes per hectare.

At one-time sorghum, yielded 11 tonnes per hectare in Matobo in Matabeleland South, which demonstrates the potential of the crops.

Uses of traditional grains almost replicate those of maize and even surpass, for instance, in making of beer, flour or many other confectioneries and can easily be processed for value addition to fetch an even higher price.

Traditional grains can give the farmer more returns per dollar invested than is the case with maize.

In terms of nutrition, traditional grains have more value than maize. They have less fat, they are highly fibrous and have significant starch.

They also produce tasty snacks.