By 
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Dr Jenfan Muswere has said the country doubled its planted area to 744,588 hectares and that by adding the ‘no till farming,’ technique, Zimbabwe stands to benefit immensely reducing the El Nino impact on the country’s grain.
This after cabinet chaired by President Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa met for the first time this year revealing how Smallholder farmers, who produce most of the country’s maize, doubled their planted area to 744,588 hectares in the 2023-24 season, from 366,706 hectares previously, according to government data revealed by Information Minister Muswere.
“This is a reflection that farmers are adopting the recommended climate-proofing interventions, especially during the El Nino condition,” Muswere said in a statement he released and read late on Tuesday.
End of last year December, during an extended spell of dry and hot weather conditions, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said Zimbabwe’s maize harvest could be halved to 1.1 million tons in 2024 due to an El Nino-induced drought.
El Nino, a natural climate phenomenon in which surface waters of the central and eastern Pacific become unusually warm, causing changes in global weather patterns, is expected to hit crop yields during the 2023/24 farming season.
Nevertheless, rains received during the second half of December and throughout January revived the country’s hopes for a good harvest.
Women make the bulk of those who work maize fields in resettled farms across the length and breath of Zimbabwe from Malipati to Matusadonha, from Kotwa to Manama, and from
Sipepa to Muzarabani.On these very farms, Zimbabwe expects to harvest 2.28 million metric tons of maize this year, enough to meet its annual consumption, due to the promotion of these farming practices aimed at reducing the impact of climate change, such as primarily the above mentioned ‘no till farming’ and water harvesting.
“Water harvesting techniques, soil and moisture conservation and the minimal disturbance of soil under this program has seen a good crop around the country,” Zimbabwe’s Dr Anxious Jongwe Masuka and his Deputy Agriculture Minister Vangelis Haritatos exclusively told TechnoMag.
The technique of No till farming minimises soil disturbance, which helps keep carbon in the soil and also enriches soil biodiversity, reducing the need for chemical fertilisers that emit greenhouse.However critics argue that Zimbabwe is one of the countries worst affected by the El Nino weather pattern and struggles to feed itself.
Despite Zimbabwe producing 2.3 million tons of maize last year, the country requires 2.2 million tons of the staple grain annually for human and livestock consumption.
Comments