RYAN CHIGOCHE
AFC Leasing Company says Zimbabwe has a total of about 194 combine harvesters, adequate enough to harvest this winter wheat crop on time.
Of these, 133 are owned by private sector players. Government owned entities, including AFC, own the balance.
The development was disclosed by AFC general manager, Shepherd Kondo.
“…All in all we have got 194 combine harvesters machines which are supposed to harvest 78 000 hectares. That’s enough capacity,” Kondo said.
He added: “The challenge that we have is the timing of our planting. Those who planted later in May are okay but the bulk of our farmers planted late in June. That’s where the problem is. That crop is going to coincide with the onset of the early rains,’’ Kondo said.
Five years ago, the government, signed a deal with the Belarus government to supply tractors and other farming equipment to Zimbabwe in efforts to modernise the agriculture sector.
This has seen the delivery of some equipment into the country.
Moreso, this year a scheme which was funded by BancABC saw some class 9 combine machines coming into the country.
Kondo said the class 9 machines have the capacity to harvest 40 ha per day. He said these will also be critical in the harvesting period.
With the country’s wheat requirement at 360 000 tonnes annually the country expects to harvest 380,000 tonnes of wheat from a hectarage of 79 000 ha in the ongoing harvest season, the first time ever the production of the cereal would exceed demand.
