Zimbabwe: Summer Cropping Season Preps At Advanced Stage

Source from:  The Herald (Harare) 12 September 2007 09/13/2007

Preperations for the forthcoming summer cropping season are at an advanced stage, with six million litres of diesel having been made available for immediate operations while fertilizer companies say power supplies improved over the past few weeks. Secretary for Agriculture Mr Ngoni Masoka yesterday said he was satisfied with the level of preparedness for this summer's programmes and urged farmers to make use of the 1 000-litre fuel provision per individual farmer. He also said that adequate fuel for tobacco would be made available. He was briefing representatives of the agricultural sector and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands, Land Reform, Resettlement, Agriculture and Water Development on the state of preparedness for this summer season. A total of 9 031 tractors were in working condition ready for the season. The Ministry of Agricultural Engineering and Mechanisation has drawn up a programme for acquisition of animal-drawn implements to complement tractor power. Farmers Development Trust chief executive Mr Lovegot Tendengu said the 60 000 hectares targeted for tobacco production could be met if inputs were made available. The Ministry of Agriculture has also announced that tobacco inputs at the Grain Marketing Board have since been ring-fenced for the smallholder sector and over 50 percent of fertilizer requirements for tobacco production have been made available through imports by contractors. "We can actually meet our targets as we have almost put together all the necessary inputs and mechanisation except for a few aspects such as fertilizer and timeous seed availability," said Mr Masoka. He said that the fertilizer issue required a twin strategy of capacitating the local industry to produce and to import ready-to-use fertilizer since the fertilizer industry is facing serious problems of production. In his presentation to the parliamentary committee, Mr Masoka said fertilizer manufacturers were operating below capacity. "The industry is citing the non availability of foreign currency for the purchasing of raw materials and the issue of pricing as major factors affecting the viability of the industry," Mr Masoka said. Zimbabwe Fertilizer Company acting director Mr Crispen Madziyauswa said shortages of coal and power outages had exacerbated the fertilizer shortages. "Power supply to Iron Duke and Dorowa (mines) improved this week, but Hwange Colliery has not been able to fully supply coal requirements to the industry," Mr Madziyauswa said. In an interview yesterday, Chemplex Corporation chief executive officer Mr Misheck Kachere concurred that power supplies at Dorowa Mine had improved significantly in the past two weeks. "We have been running smoothly for the past two weeks as Zesa Holdings has greatly improved power supplies," he said. On seed, Mr Masoka said there was need to address the pricing with seed houses. Zimbabwe Seed Trade Association chairman Mr Themba Nkatazo said seed houses had so far received 50 percent of maize seed while the other 50 percent was still with growers who are disputing the current price of $4,2 million per tonne. "We are facing problems in getting seed from growers who are not willing to release their seed due to the price which they say is not viable. "Prices of maize seed should be increased for the seed that is still with the producers. Otherwise we have enough seed for this summer programme," he said. Seed Co managing director Mr Dennis Zaranyika, who is also the deputy chairman of Zimbabwe Seed Trade Association, said by this time last year, his company had received 19 000 tonnes of maize seed, but as of now only 10 100 tonnes has been delivered. "By now we should have received 90 percent of our seed, but we only have 50 percent. "Our seed growers are asking for a price increase of not less than $20 million per tonne considering high crop management, labour intensive methods and high inputs required for production as compared to other crops," he said. Enditem