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The 2022/23 cropping season is at different stages with some farmers still tilling the land following the promising rains that have been falling  throughout the country while others are planting and a few now weeding  their crops.

The director of the Department of Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services (AGRITEX) Stancilae Tapererwa told New Ziana that the majority of farmers who grow food crops were making final land preparations while those for cash crops like tobacco were busy transplanting.

“Farmers have started planting but tobacco transplanting is quite advanced. Generally we are getting ready almost throughout the country,” he said.

He said the crops were at different stages depending on types with the early planted maize at knee level while in some farming regions it had not yet germinated.

This year the government is distributing agricultural inputs to match the ecological regions to ensure optimum production and guarantee national food security.

In the past, the inputs were distributed without regard to the suitability of crops to particular areas, with maize seed in particular, being given to farmers across the regions.

Many people in Zimbabwe could not afford inputs at the beginning of the agricultural seasons and this affected their yields.

The introduction of the Presidential Inputs Scheme commonly known as the Pfumvudza/Intwasa program has since changed the situation, with most households now producing enough to take them through to the next harvest while others have excess to sell.

The Meteorological Services Department (MSD) predicted normal to above normal rains during the 2022/23 cropping season. — New Ziana