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Precious Manomano-Herald Reporter

WINTER wheat production has begun in earnest with the planted crop in generally good condition and growing well while farmers expect a good harvest.

Several farmers have planted the crop whilst others are in the process of preparing the land.

In an interview, Zimbabwe Farmers Union director, Mr Paul Zakariya, said farmers had shown interest in planting wheat this year, adding that if banks speed up the process of giving loans to farmers, there was a possibility of getting a bumper harvest.

He said continous rains were also causing farmers to delay removing crops and clearing the land in preparation for planting wheat.

He also urged farmers to fully utilise their land for maximum profits and earn the country the much-needed foreign currency.

In Zimbabwe, wheat is the second most important cereal crop after maize.

 The annual wheat consumption for Zimbabwe is above 400 000 tonnes yet wheat imports of around 80 percent are made each year.

 Farmers are implored to increase local wheat production, which will feed into the Sustainable Development Goals Number 1 (No poverty) and SDG 2 (Zero hunger) by 2030.

Farmers have over the years been reluctant to grow wheat because of the high risk associated with the crop.

 Use of generators drives up costs and makes the crop unviable and with inadequate irrigation, yields plummet.

 Zimbabwe is targeting more than 85 000 hectares of wheat this winter from all farmers to ensure self-sufficiency. 

 Since wheat has to be grown under irrigation, the crop is pretty well guaranteed since it is climate-proof. The good rains mean that irrigation and farm dams are largely full.

Last season, farmers produced wheat that was enough to cover nine months’ supply to meet domestic demand, a major jump, with the GMB receiving 156 144 tonnes from the farmers it had under contract.

Zimbabwe needs at least 400 000mt of wheat a year to meet its flour demand, a tonnage the Government is keen to achieve. After last year’s major jump in the size of the harvest, another year of gain should see Zimbabwe, for the first time ever, achieving self-sufficiency.