Zimbabwe is expanding a new technique of conservative farming this year to other crops following the successful roll-out of the scheme in the last summer cropping season.
Conservative farming, known in the local Shona language as Pfumvudza, is a no-till system under which farmers ensure the optimum use of resources on a small piece of land in order to improve yields.
The technique is built on three principles – minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotation – to reduce soil erosion, improve soil quality and conserve water.
Minimum soil disturbance ensures that a farmer does not plow the land, but instead hand-dig hole basins to plant crops, which helps crops survive droughts by keeping them hydrated for longer periods.
The farming technique, which was launched in 2019 as a measure to address the challenges of low productivity among small-scale farmers, has been largely credited for increased cereal crop production especially maize.
The government is now planning to extend the concept to other crops such as cotton, the Herald newspaper reported Wednesday.
Farmers who have completed their land preparations under the Presidential Input Scheme have already started receiving inputs so that they can plant their crops as soon as rains start to fall, the paper said.
The Presidential Input Scheme provides farmers with resources to adequately prepare for the cropping season on time.
This year the government is planning to expand the Presidential Input Scheme to cover 2.3 million households up from 1.8 million that benefitted from the program last year.
In addition, following the success of the scheme in the previous season, this year the program will support the production of crops under conservative farming on five plots per household up from three last season.
Agriculture Technical and Extension Services (Agritex) Chief Agronomist Rutendo Nhongonhema said preparations for the 2021/2022 summer cropping season are well on course, with farmers having started accessing inputs.
She said the success of the conservative farming program saw a number of farmers adopting the cropping technique and undergoing training.
“We are training both old and new farmers. And only when one would have finished the recommended land preparations are inputs distributed,” she said.
“We have had an overwhelming response from farmers who did half plots last season and those who ignored the program. After seeing the high yields from the Pfumvudza plots during the past season, most of the farmers have adopted the technique this season,” she told the newspaper.
In addition to addressing household food insecurity, the conservative farming scheme also aims to commercialize smallholder farming.
Over 280,000 hectares of land will be put under maize through the Presidential Input Scheme targeting to produce around 1.48 million tons of the staple crop, Nhongonhema said.
Preliminary forecasts show that Zimbabwe is projected to receive between normal to above normal rainfall this farming season.
Owing to abundant rainfall and government support to farmers over the past farming season, this year Zimbabwe suspended maize imports after the country recorded a bumper maize harvest of 2.8 million tons of the staple crop against the national consumption of 1.8 million tons annually, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency said recently.
Maize production for the forthcoming 2021/22 summer cropping season is projected to hit three million tons, an all-time record high, it said.
Agriculture is the mainstay of Zimbabwe’s economy, contributing about 15 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The sector provides employment and income to more than 60 percent of the country’s population, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Enditem
