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Dr Made

Elita Chikwati Senior Agriculture Reporter
Government is concerned with the destruction of crops and infrastructure as a result of climate change and will soon come up with strategies to assist farmers, a Cabinet Minister has said. Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation and Development Minister Dr Joseph Made yesterday said Government was cogniscant of the damage that the current weather is having on crops and infrastructure. He, however, appealed to farmers not to despair.

Farmers have suffered losses after crops such as tobacco, tomatoes and cabbages had been destroyed by hailstorm and strong winds. In Matabeleand North and Masvingo, small earth dams have been washed away, while some farmers in many areas have had their wheat affected by the current rains. “We must look at extremes of climate and climate change in relationship to the past, dealing with drought but now we have rainfall which is also to the extreme.

“The current rains have continued to be associated with hailstorm and winds and this has had a major impact on crops and farm infrastructure,” he said.