LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
The forecasting of a wet summer cropping season in Zimbabwe has brought hope to farmers to ramp up production and help themselves to establish irrigation facilities and self-sufficiency on livestock feed.
Various farmer organisations anticipate that good rains come as a booster given that they experienced erratic rainfall patterns last season.
Regional climate experts from all 16 SADC member states held a virtual meeting last week and predicted that Zimbabwe will be among the countries that are going to receive good rains.
Zimbabwe National Farmers Union chairman Stewart Mubonderi told Business Times that prospects of a good rainy season give farmers and the government time to plan ahead.
“This helps the farmers to recover from the losses that they have incurred over the years and financial institutions should start disbursing loans to the farmers now and the government should also timeously release Pfumvudza inputs to boost farmers’ preparations. Most of the rural farmers do not have irrigation hence good rains could boost them.
If this latest prediction is anything to go by we should have a bumper harvest so that we can install irrigation on our own,” Mubonderi said.
Zimbabwe Free Range Poultry Producers Association secretary general Beauty Jiji said as livestock farmers self-sufficiency in terms of formulating feed is critical in these good seasons.
“Feed comprises 80% of cost of production hence a farmer should grow enough feed to cut costs. Those who are in dry regions should concentrate on small grains that are good for the feed and also sunflower for the sunflower cake which is rich for livestock,” Jiji said.
She said farmers should also grow cowpeas as a source of protein for them and livestock.
“Those in dry regions should also try Moringa tree which does well there as it is good for goats’ protein source. Growers should establish pastures for this upcoming season where they have runner grass, star grass and lucerne to be self-sufficient on animal feed,” Jiji said.
“Good rains will guarantee the nation increased production across all crops and there will be increased exports and export earnings and with soyabeans will also reduce imports and help self-sufficiency.”
The SADC Climate Service Centre convened the virtual forum on August 24 to 26 and a forecast of normal to above normal rainfall was predicted for the region.
Last year, regional experts recommended extending the seasonal forecast, which is usually made in August, to April and May.
They argued that this was critical to helping manage hydrographic basins and dams, which typically record peak water flow after April, when the rainy season ends.
Southern Africa climate experts are forecasting normal to above-average rainfall for most parts of the SADC region for the 2022-2023 harvest season.
Normal to above-average rainfall has been forecast for most of the SADC for the period October-December 2022, with northwestern Angola, most of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, western and southern Madagascar, northern Malawi and northern Mozambique, the western reaches of Namibia and South Africa, the south-western United Republic of Tanzania and north-eastern Zambia expect normal to below-average rainfall.
For the period January to March 2022, normal to above-average rainfall was expected for most of the region, except for the south-western edges of Angola, the western edges of Namibia and South Africa.
However, the 2021 – 2022 rainy season in Zimbabwe was largely characterised by above-average rainfall in some regions and weak and erratic rainfall in others.
The late-onset and early-onset rains, rising input costs, excessive rainfall in some parts, and drought in others had boded ill for the 2021-2022 harvest season in the country.
The rains that fell during the second last half of the season from January to April came too late in the production season to save crops in most regions of the country.
Crop write-offs were recorded in most of the southeastern and southwestern districts, and household crops were poor as many of the farmers suffered total crop failure.
The country’s maize production was forecast to fall by 43% in the 2021-2022 farming season due to poor rainfall patterns.
The government estimated corn production at 1,557,914 tonnes, down 43% from the 2,717,171 tons produced in the 2020-2021 season.
Small grain production was forecast at 194,100 tonnes, down 44% from the 347,968 tonnes of the previous season.
The projected total grain production is 1 752 014 tonnes against a national grain demand of 2 267 599 tonnes, of which 1 817 599 tonnes for human consumption and 450 000 tons for livestock.
