News / National
Drought looms in Beitbridge
26 Jan 2019 at 12:06hrs | Views
A drought is looming in Beitbridge District where crops have started wilting due to moisture stress while others have been destroyed by the fall army worm. It is also understood that the district has received an average of 50mm of rains since the start of the 2018-19 cropping season.
Small scale farmers have also expressed fear that they might lose livestock due to the prevailing situation. In separate interviews the farmers said crops were destroyed a few days after germination due to erratic rains.
The deputy chairman of the River Ranch irrigation scheme management committee Mr Johanne Nyathi said the farmers were devastated.
"We have a total of 83 plot holders here and everyone is demoralised, crops are wilting due to lack of both rain and irrigation water.
"To add to our misery, the fall armyworm had ravaged most of our crops. We have tried to spray with the assistants of other government agencies but it is not helping matters," he said.
Mr Nyathi said the situation at the 40-hectare irrigation project had been worsened by the unavailability of electricity to power the four irrigation pumps.
He said the farmers had to take turns to irrigate their plants and that it was affecting the growth of their maize crop.
Another farmer in Ward 6, Mrs Maria Gara said women were the worst affected by the imminent drought since there where many families headed by them or children.
"The crops are in bad shape. This is an outright drought, most families will starve. Under normal farming season we get over 50 by 50 kgs of maize from our fields. Considering the situation on the ground some will have less than 20 bags of maize.
"You will note that at this irrigation scheme (River Ranch), there are more women farmers than men. Our plea is for well-wishers to help in upgrading our electricity system so that we may be able to use all the engine pumps to water the remaining crops in the fields," she said.
The district agriculture extension officer Mr Masauso Mawocha said the situation on the ground was depressing.
He said a total of 5 hectares in Wards 6 and 7 had been affected by the fall army worm and were a write off.
Small scale farmers have also expressed fear that they might lose livestock due to the prevailing situation. In separate interviews the farmers said crops were destroyed a few days after germination due to erratic rains.
The deputy chairman of the River Ranch irrigation scheme management committee Mr Johanne Nyathi said the farmers were devastated.
"We have a total of 83 plot holders here and everyone is demoralised, crops are wilting due to lack of both rain and irrigation water.
"To add to our misery, the fall armyworm had ravaged most of our crops. We have tried to spray with the assistants of other government agencies but it is not helping matters," he said.
Mr Nyathi said the situation at the 40-hectare irrigation project had been worsened by the unavailability of electricity to power the four irrigation pumps.
Another farmer in Ward 6, Mrs Maria Gara said women were the worst affected by the imminent drought since there where many families headed by them or children.
"The crops are in bad shape. This is an outright drought, most families will starve. Under normal farming season we get over 50 by 50 kgs of maize from our fields. Considering the situation on the ground some will have less than 20 bags of maize.
"You will note that at this irrigation scheme (River Ranch), there are more women farmers than men. Our plea is for well-wishers to help in upgrading our electricity system so that we may be able to use all the engine pumps to water the remaining crops in the fields," she said.
The district agriculture extension officer Mr Masauso Mawocha said the situation on the ground was depressing.
He said a total of 5 hectares in Wards 6 and 7 had been affected by the fall army worm and were a write off.
Source - chronicle
