Herald reporter
THE Government has urged smallholder farmers to join savings and credit co-operatives and village banks to assist themselves in raising working capital. Speaking at the World Food Day commemorations in Chivhu on Wednesday, Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development

Senior Agriculture Reporter
GOVERNMENT has been challenged to intensify Agritex officials’ training in interpreting and conversion of weather data. Addressing delegates attending a stakeholders’ meeting yesterday, a senior Agritex official Ms Morleen Mupandawana said new staff members in her department were

Agriculture Reporter
PREPARATIONS for the 2012/13 summer cropping season have started, but stakeholders say more needs to be done to ensure farmers are ready.
Most of the farmers are concentrating on land preparations, while others are procuring inputs as they wait for the onset of the rainfall season which

Elita Chikwati Agriculture Reporter
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board has registered 49 000 growers to produce the crop in the 2012/13 summer season. The figure is seven times more than the total number of farmers who had registered to grow the golden leaf during the same period last year.  Seven thousand growers

Agriculture Reporter
Rains for the 2012/13 summer cropping season are expected to begin mid-November, while farmers in most parts of the country have already started land preparations. Meteorological Services Department senior officer Mr Jonathan Chifuna said it was difficult to forecast the exact dates of the onset

Ellita Chikwati Agriculture Reporter
Most cotton growers in Mashonaland Central province have switched to tobacco production because of the low prices offered for the crop on the market this season. The farmers have started constructing curing barns and others have already established seedbeds. At the same time the farmers are

Walter Muchinguri Assistant Business Editor
STAKEHOLDERS in the agricultural industry have been urged to find common ground to reach an amicable solution to the problems affecting the sector to ensure a successful 2012/13 season. Addressing the stakeholders during a breakfast meeting in Harare yesterday, to gauge the country’s

Agriculture Reporter
Wheat farmers believe the industry could be revived if funding and power issues are resolved. Their comments were triggered by Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Mr Wonder Chabikwa, who recently said wheat was not a viable crop and farmers could do better if they get an alternative crop. “For the farmer wheat

Agriculture Reporter
GOVERNMENT is encouraging farmers in drought stricken areas to consider selling some of their unproductive cattle to raise money to buy supplementary feeds.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisa­tion and Irrigation Development Mr Seiso Moyo said the exercise was not meant to encourage de-stocking, but preserve only

Octavius Chahwanda
For some years now Zimbabwean farmers have been failing to produce adequate maize to feed the nation, forcing the country to  import. This is despite providing cheap inputs on credit to farmers for many years. It is high time that we look closely at previously implemented support schemes

Agriculture Reporter
Fruit and vegetable farmers at Mbare Musika have appealed to Harare City Council to allocate them more time at the market so that they finish selling their produce. They told The Herald yesterday that they were allowed sell their crops between 6am and 12 noon. Bindura farmer Mr Richard