The ManicaPost
Business Reporter
THE District Development Fund (DDF) is set to auction its old equipment in a bid to raise funds to repair its broken down tractors to increase the operational fleet in order to meet high demand for tillage services.
Farmers are building back and reinvesting in the land for the 2014/15 season.
The DDF is operating at less than 10 percent of the total fleet.
The head of DDF Manicaland, Mr Robert Ngoni Chawatama, told The Manica Post that demand was high and several old tractors, disc harrows, planters, lorries, graders and other equipment were set to go under the hammer to raise capital to buy critical spares.
Mr Chawatama said at the moment they had two tillage units per district.
Each unit ploughs three hectares per day.
DDF charges 30 litres of fuel per hectare for the dry rate and US$45 to till a hectare of land or US$88 for wet rate.
The dry rate is when the farmer provides fuel and pays for the tillage per hectare while the wet rate is when DDF provides both fuel and the tillage service.
The DDF is charged with the responsibility of providing and maintaining rural infrastructure within the communal, resettlement and small-scale commercial farming areas of Zimbabwe.
“The demand for the services is overwhelming especially now that tobacco farmers are doing winter plough. We are doing some quick-fix repairs in preparation for the summer season. Our immediate target is to have at least two operational tractors per district,” said Mr Chawatama.
At the peak of operational viability between 2002 and 2005, DDF Manicaland used to have 10 operational units per district, tilling between 10 000 to 15 000ha throughout Manicaland.
“Most of the units are grounded and with two per district we won’t be able to cope with the demand. Things are set to improve as we are going to dispose of some of the old equipment to raise funds to purchase critical spares. We are going to boost the equipment as we proceed,” said Mr Chawatama.
The most important agricultural activity, at this juncture, for every serious farmer is to till the fields.
That is what used to be called winter plough because it is done more or less in winter. But lack of tractors could keep them at bay.
A survey by The Manica Post has proved that farmers have begun to invest again in their futures, helping to reclaim the country’s previous distinction as the breadbasket of Africa.
The advent of contract farming, which has introduced mechanised
farming, has caught the attention of most farmers in Manicaland — resulting in high demand for tractors and tillage services for the land.
Worse yet, tractor companies and banks still see the region as a humanitarian zone not worthy of investment, a feat that clearly indicates that farmers in Manicaland still face severe constraints to modernise agriculture.
With better quality seeds, good information about fertiliser, improved post-harvest handling practices and storage options at their disposal, banking services and lack of tractors and tillage options, remain the greatest hurdles.
DDF is funded by Government which should inject money so that it fills the gap to the extent needed to make a long-term dent on hunger. This approach involves improving the effectiveness of DDF and other tillage players and developing partnerships between them.
Proper early land preparation will determine the quality of the harvest the farmer gets at the end of the next season.
Its major advantages are that it helps to reduce weeds, especially couch grass (tsangadzi) whose long creeping roots are exposed to the sun by tilling, thus reducing its incidence in the field; it destroys pests such as maize stalk borers in their pupal stage by exposing them to the sun and at the same time burying organic residue in the soil which is important in that it supports a lot of life in the soil such as worms and microscopic bacteria that help release food for the plants in a balanced way.
It also loosens the soil, making it easier for the plant roots to penetrate as well as improving the circulation of air in the soil which is critical for germination and growth.
It also involves care of the soil to ensure it contributes to the increased form of productivity, improves its capacity to retain water and allow circulation of air.
A porous soil is much better for crops in that it allows air and such gases as nitrogen to reach roots of leguminous plants that fix it into the soil and are used for healthy growth of the relevant crops.
A winter-ploughed field is much easier to cultivate since most of the weeds would have been destroyed by the sun as stated earlier.
