Zim records bumper crop harvest

Harare (New Ziana) – Zimbabwe is poised to produce over 3 million tonnes of cereal including a record 2.8 million tonnes of maize, well above national requirements, a Cabinet Minister said on Tuesday.

In her weekly post Cabinet briefing, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the second round crop and livestock assessment report presented to Cabinet on Tuesday by Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement Minister Anxious Masuka revealed that Zimbabwe was set for a bumper harvest following a good rain season.

“Maize production is estimated at 2 717 171 metric tonnes, which is 199 percent higher than the 907 628 metric tonnes produced in the 2019/2020 season. Traditional grains production is projected at 347 968 metric tonnes, which is 128 percent more than the 152 515 metric tonne output of the previous season,” she said.

“The total cereal production projection is 3 075 538 metric tonnes, against a national cereal requirement of 1 797 435 metric tonnes for human consumption and 450 000 metric tonnes for livestock.”

Mutsvangwa said soya bean production was expected to increase to 71 290 tonnes from 47 088 tonnes the previous year while sweet potato production was estimated to increase by 269 percent, sugar beans by 142 percent and groundnuts by 139 percent.

She said government had already rolled out plans to minimise post harvest losses through providing farmers with harvesting and marketing support while also helping improve local preservation methods.

She said production of other non-food crops was also projected to increase with cotton output estimated at 195 991 metric tonnes, a 94 percent increase from the 101 000 tonnes achieved in the previous season.

On livestock, Mutsvangwa said the national beef cattle herd increased from 5 443 770 in the previous season to 5 478 648 this season.

“The average national cattle mortality rate decreased from 12 percent in 2019 to 4.2 percent in 2020, due to improved disease control efforts, such as from the Presidential Tick Grease Scheme, and improved nutrition due to the good rainy season. Farmers are urged to go and collect their tick grease allocations from their local GMB Depots,” she said.

“Egg production is increasing, reaching a new high of 59.3 million dozens in 2020, surpassing the 2019 production by 18 percent (which was 50.4 million dozens) and 7 percent higher than previous record of 55.3 million in 2016.”
New Ziana