COMMAND Agriculture might be affected by inadequate and late disbursements of inputs to farmers, Agriculture minister Joseph Made has said.
Source: Inputs debacle impacts on command agric – NewsDay Zimbabwe December 28, 2016
by VENERANDA LANGA
Made was responding to Norton MP Temba Mliswa, in the National Assembly recently who wanted to know what government was doing in the face of a serious shortage of inputs that has seen farmers planting late.
“The MP is very correct that the target is based on adequate inputs and planting on time. However, I do not agree with the position that command agriculture will be a total failure,” Made said.
“We will examine each case as it relates to the various inputs that arrived late namely herbicides, top dressing fertiliser and compound D which certainly have got an impact on farming.”
The minister said he will examine each contract and each field circumstance on a farmer-to-farmer basis to see the impact and address the shortages.
But, Mliswa said government increased the number of farmers to benefit from command agriculture from 100 per province without increasing inputs.
“We must be clear so that government is well aware of the fact that we will not meet the target because the yields have gone unless the minister of Water and Climate is able to tell us that the weather conditions have changed. We must have a clear position in terms of the preparedness of the season,” he said.
The Norton MP said he was one of the legislators farming under command agriculture but did not get adequate herbicides.
“Command Agriculture did not specify that there will be 100 farmers per province, which is not correct. The position that Mliswa is referring to in terms of the yields as per the given planting time can only relate to the irrigated crop otherwise the dry land crop — even the irrigated crop — as we are talking, is still within the context of achieving the minimum tonnage per hectare,” Made said.
COMMENTS
The market can drive agriculture – but some goons from Zanu decided that they knew better than the market. Now the same goons want to drive it through command agriculture. Why should another guise of agriculture work if it run by Zanu – again?
The Honorable Temba Mliswa is correct. The inputs HAVE arrived late and in insufficient quantities. Maize requires a minimum of 400 kgs per hectare of full strength Compound D fertilizer and a minimum of 400 kgs per hectare of Ammonium Nitrate to achieve and sort of reasonable yield. BUT even more important is the timing of the planting of this strategic crop. Maize plantings should be completed by the end of November if possible, to take full advantage of daylight hours and summer heat units. This is not to say that maize cannot be planted after this date, however, expect a loss of one tonne per hectare of potential yield for every week after the end of November. If this Command Agriculture project is to suceed Government should start getting together all these inputs well in advance for the 2017/2018 planting season. PLEASE LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES.