MUTARE- Manicaland province has been assured of food security and rapid
farmer income after achieving bumper harvests in all grain crops this season.
The province recorded a yield of 412 602 tonnes of grain during the 2022/23
summer cropping season against a target requirement of 249 922 tonnes giving
Manicaland a surplus of 162 680 tonnes of grain.
Director for Agricultural Advisory and Rural Development Services in
Manicaland, Philippa Rwambiwa said the province had a good season despite
some districts experiencing dry spells.
“Manicaland has all the five agro-ecological regions in one province as we
advise farmers to grow crops that are suitable to specific regions. For this
season we had quite a number of crops that we grew and of interest is maize
which attained 290 000 hectares out of a target 265 000 thus increasing our
yield significantly, she said.
She said the most hit district was Mutare and that Government will move grain
from areas with surplus yields to those with deficits.
Rwambiwa applauded the various Government interventions in the agricultural
sector most of which she attributed the bumper harvests to.
“The province had a mixture of good fortunes from the heavens as well as
various support and financing systems put in place by Government. Farmers
were also getting assistance from CBZ Bank under the National Enhanced
Agriculture Productivity Scheme (NEAPS) and AFC Bank and this all
contributed to a bumper harvest,” she said.
The provincial average yield for the season was 1.4 tonnes per hectare.
Meanwhile, preparations for the 2023/24 summer cropping season have started
as the province aims in increasing yield per hectare tom attain food security.
Rwambiwa said agricultural practices contribute close to 15 percent of
Manicaland’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
The Second Republic has put in place measures to not just ensure food
sufficiency through agricultural transformation programmes, but also to ensure
that all farmers, from small holder to large scale producers, benefit from the
programmes thereby pushing up rural income and rural development.
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