By Maricho Reporter
Government has approved plans to establish a Migratory Pest Control Unit in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement to ensure surveillance of all important pests – quelea, locust and armyworm as quelea bird menace remains a major threat in all provinces.
According to an update on the country’s Winter Wheat Production Programme and the Maize and Cotton Marketing Season presented by the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement Dr Anxious Masuka, farmers are accessing bird shield chemical from the Grain Marketing Board.
“The use of drones to complement knapsack spraying has been adopted to improve efficiency and reduce costs as efforts to save the crop from the migratory birds continue,” he said.
The Migratory Pest Control Unit is expected to train farmers on surveillance; react to outbreaks timely; coordinate stakeholder efforts; and mobilise resources for adequate and effective responses.
Dr Masuka said current wheat stocks are sufficient until the next harvest, expected from mid-September.
Zimbabwe expects 298 961 MT from the 66 435. 86 hectares planted under the Presidential, NEAPS/Command/CBZ Agro-Yield and Private Sector schemes at a yield level of 4.5 tonnes per hectare against the national requirement of 360 000 MT.
The winter wheat crop is “generally good across all provinces, and the major activities on the farms include spraying of chemicals for pest control, top dressing and routine irrigation”.
“There is adequate water in the dams for crop irrigation. Early planted wheat is now at hard dough stage in most provinces. The producer price will be announced in due course,” according to Dr Masuka.
Meanwhile, the Grain Marketing Board has commenced preparations for wheat intake, and has designated 18 intake depots in that regard. The allocation of combine harvesters and transporters is being finalized by AFC and GMB. Harvesting of the early-planted wheat is expected to start from mid-September onwards, and fuel for the contracted farmers is being made available on time.