15 percent of Manicaland crop poor: Agritex

13 Jan, 2017 - 00:01 0 Views
15 percent of Manicaland crop poor: Agritex

The ManicaPost

Samuel Kadungure Senior Reporter —
THE current cropping season – touted as the mother of all agricultural seasons – risk going to waste if no remedial action is taken to address acute top-dressing fertiliser shortage at this critical juncture as rains continue to pound major crop producing regions causing excessive leaching of water-soluble plant nutrients from the soil.

Agricultural experts told The Manica Post that while typical rainfall is generally beneficial, as minor levels of leaching occur as the breakdown of organic materials on the surface resupplies the soil, excessive precipitation hurt the general ecology of the soil as leaching becomes more dramatic.

Acting Agritex head for Manicaland, Mrs Phillipa Rwambiwa, admitted a “leaching headache” which has resulted in 15 percent of the crop in the province being “poor due to leaching of nutrients and farmers’ failure to apply remedial top-dressing fertilisers”.

During the first week of January, 2017, the crop condition was 80 percent good and 20 percent fair and as it continues to rain at a time top-dressing fertilisers was in short supply, the crop condition continues to drastically deteriorate.

“Only five percent of the crop can be said to be very good and 60 percent is good. 20 percent of the crop can be said to be fair, but 15 percent of it is poor. If the province continues to have incessant rains at a time farmers are unable to apply top-dressing fertiliser due to persistent shortages, then the condition of the crop will continue to deteriorate from being good to fair and poor.

“These rains cause nutrient leaching, the downward movement of dissolved nutrients in the soil profile with percolating water. The nutrients are being leached below the rooting zone of the crops, thus leaching deplete the soil of important substances vital for crop growth,” said Mrs Rwambiwa.

Soils with high water infiltration rates and low nutrient retention capacity, such as sandy soils and well-structured ferrallitic soils with low-activity clays and low organic matter contents have been leached heavily in Manicaland.

As a consequence, leaching contribute significantly to negative nitrogen balances of agricultural systems.

Mrs Rwambiwa urged farmers to apply fertiliser (especially nitrogen) in several small applications, rather than all at once, and placing fertiliser at the zone of maximum root activity of crops.

Shortages of chemical fertiliser occur every year, and previously Government fast-tracked shipments by making a government-to-government deal with China.

The country has been facing an acute shortage of fertiliser as the country’s biggest fertiliser producer, Sable Chemicals, is operating at 25 percent capacity due to financial and other challenges.

While Sables has the capacity to produce 240 000 tonnes of fertiliser, the company has not been able to meet the AN annual requirements of 150 000 per annum.

Other producers such as the Zimbabwe Fertiliser Company, Zimbabwe Phosphate Industries, Omnia and Windmill have drastically scaled back production, citing high cost of raw materials and lack of foreign currency needed to buy them.

Efforts to get a comment from the Reserve Bank Governor, Dr John Mangudya on Wednesday were fruitless as his mobile phone went unanswered on several occasions.

Dr Mangudya had not responded to a text message send to him on what Government was doing to address forex shortages haunting fertiliser companies.

Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Dr Joseph Made, was quoted in the media saying Government was working flat out to avert fertiliser shortages especially Ammonium Nitrate which is on high demand by farmers.

Dr Made assured farmers that Government will do its best to avert top dressing fertiliser shortage and ensure both Command and Presidential Inputs Schemes achieve the intended results.

The bulk of the crop under command agriculture has reached a critical stage where it requires top dressing fertiliser.

The province has received precipitation exceeding an average of 340mm in the first half of this cropping season, 159mm more compared to the same period last season.

Last season’s delay in rains was a direct result of climate change which increased the severity of El Nino-induced drought, resulting in a serious reduction agricultural production and household food security in the province.

The Meteorological Services Department has predicted above normal rains during the October-December period, and though the rains were truant in October, a fair share of precipitation was received between November and December, rejuvenating waning hopes among farmers, the majority of whom dwell in rural areas and depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture for food and income.

The department’s projections were that except in Region One and Two, normal rainfall will be received during the October-December 2016 period and from late January until end of the season in March, the rainfall should be below normal to normal, suggesting a normal season for these two regions.

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