Manicaland gets 123 000l of diesel for Command Agriculture

04 Nov, 2016 - 00:11 0 Views
Manicaland gets 123 000l of diesel for Command Agriculture

The ManicaPost

Samuel Kadungure Senior Reporter

MANICALAND has received 123 000 litres of diesel for allocation to farmers under the Command Agriculture programme in which beneficiaries will get 100 litres per hectare for tillage and other operations till harvest.

This scheme seeks to improve maize production and enhance food security to cover the harsh periods between harvests.

Statistics from the provincial taskforce released on Wednesday showed that the bulky of the diesel — 36 060 litres will be allocated to Makoni District — which has 64 farmers, with a cumulative 2 173.5ha to be planted under irrigation. Chipinge will get the second largest share of 25 320l, which will be shared among 31 farmers with a combined 995 hectares.

Agritex officer for Manicaland, Mr Godfrey Mamhare, said so far 90 000 litres have been received, alongside other inputs that have since been allocated to farmers contracted to produce under irrigation.

Mr Mamhare said 1 500 farmers — with a combined 12 548 hectares — had their contracts approved.

Of these, 539 farmers with a cumulative 6 448.2ha have been contracted to produce maize under irrigation, while 889 farmers with a total of 6 099.6ha will grow maize under dryland. Mutare District was allocated 25 140l, followed by Mutasa (20 020l), Nyanga (10 800l), Chimanimani (5 680l) and Buhera (180l).

Buhera has one farmer, while Chimanimani 15, Mutare 249, Mutasa 116 and Nyanga 46 farmers registered under the irrigation and category require tillage assistance in the form of tractors and fuel.

About 1 342ha have been ploughed out of 2 173ha in Makoni followed by 196ha out of 990ha in Chipinge. No land preparation has been done in Buhera (two hectares), Chimanimani (63ha), Mutare (1 777.5ha), Mutasa (439ha), Nyanga (247ha).

Manicaland has an allocation of 170 tonnes of seed maize, of which 66.95 tonnes is earmarked for Mutare District, 21 tonnes for Chipinge, 54 tonnes for Makoni, 19 tonnes for Mutasa, 16 tonnes for Nyanga, two tonnes for Chimanimani and half a tonne for Buhera.

The province also has an allocation of 719t of Compound D fertiliser, of which 75.2t have been received for Chimanimani; 620t of maize fertiliser, 1235t of lime of which 128.1 for Chipinge has been received.

The farmers will get chemicals, fertiliser and seed maize optimised for the climates of one’s respective region which they will pay back by giving Government five tonnes per hectare and retain any surplus.

Farmers are being allocated 400kgs of Compound D or 350kg of Double D; 300kg of Ammonium Nitrate, 700kg of lime and 100litres of diesel per hectare.

Share This:

Sponsored Links

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds