Second crop, livestock assessment begins

LIVINGSTONE MARUFU

Government  is undertaking the second round of nationwide crop and livestock assessment to make a final evaluation  on crops and livestock in the country.

The assessment also seeks to make a final assessment on disease prevalence, state of pastures and water supply.

“Officials  from Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, farmers organisations and agriculture extension officers among others are in the fields to evaluate whether the recent rains have improved the late planted crop or not,” the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Shadreck Makombe  told Business Times.

He added: “With the crops heavily  affected  by one of the longest dry spells , it remains to be seen whether  we can salvage something or not but there are quite a number of some write-offs in various areas.”

Makombe said farmers are in the final stages of sugar beans and sweet potato plantations, especially in wet areas, with most farmers having completed the planting processes of both crops.

He said the results will provide an early warning to decision makers on the possible outcome of the present cropping season. This will also help the Grain Marketing Board to prepare its silos to contain the possible output.

Mashonaland East Agritex officer Tanaka Homela said the yield in the province seems to be very average as the late planted crop rejuvenated to come up with a decent yield.

“The nationwide second round crop and livestock assessment began on (last) Saturday.

“So far,  from various farms, we have  witnessed average crops be it A1 or A2.

“And also on the livestock front, most cattle and goats are very healthy,” Homela said.

He said most dams were full and pastures  were in excellent condition.

According to the first crop and livestock assessment report total area planted to maize decreased by 1% to 1 903 669hectares  in 2021/22 from 1 920 541hectares in the 2020/21 season.

Of the 1 903 669ha under maize, 595 368ha (31%) had been planted by the end of November 2021, 1 037 092ha (54%) was planted in December 2021 and 288 081ha (15%) was planted in January 2022.

The area planted under maize for Pfumvudza/ Intwasa is 342 860ha which is 18% of the total area planted

“The early planted November and early December crop had poor crop establishment due to a dry spell that occurred until the last weekend of December and hence had a poor crop stand. This crop is now mostly at the late reproductive stage and is the most affected by the dry spell,” reads part of the report.

“The January crop was still at early to late vegetative stage due to late onset of the season and the crop condition was generally fair to poor because of an on-going dry spell that has lasted for most of the month of February in most parts of the country.”

The report highlighted the season was very  poor by all standards as early crop was affected at the maturity level with late crop affected at the vegetative stage.

“Nitrogen deficiency was worsened by late delivery of top dressing under the major input support programs as well as its unavailability on the open market. Where it was available, the prices were exorbitant and out of reach for most of the farmers.

“Major farm management operations such as mechanical and chemical weed control, pest control and application of top dressing was hampered by extreme weather events such as the wet spell that lasted from the last weekend of December  2021 to mid-January 2022 as well as the tropical storm, Ana that occurred in the last weekend of January and the dry spell that occurred in February. This worsened the crop condition,” the report said.