Incessant rains affecting horticultural produce

FARMERS in Umguza have lost a significant amount of horticulture produce and crops to the excessive rains that have pounded most parts of the country in recent weeks, a situation that farmers say might trigger a price increase.

Although it could not be established how much damage has been caused by the heavy rains, a visit by Sunday Farming to the Matabeleland North district showed that a number of farmers were affected by the incessant rains which may cause a shortage of some horticulture produce.

The produce affected include tomatoes, green pepper, cabbage and okra. The country has received non-stop rains since the Christmas period, leading to flooding and water logging in most parts of the country. Mr Dumisani Ncube of Freeway Farm said the loss of the produce might trigger a situation whereby demand will surpass supply increasing the risk of commodity price increases in Bulawayo which is the main market.

"The rains are too much to a point that they are flooding up the ridges that we put. When the tomato plants are in water for more than 12 hours they die and as it is, we have already lost a lot of plants. With the plants we have lost and if we continue to lose more due to rain, we may face a situation where demand will be more than what we can supply," said Mr Ncube.

At another farm, the owner who identified himself as Onias revealed that they had lost about 30 000 cabbage seedlings because of the rains as well as pepper plants. He said some of the okra plants were also dying.

"We had about 70 000 cabbage seedlings of which about 30 000 died because of the rains and we managed to plant the remainder. We also lost all of our pepper plants in the fields and some of the okra plants are also dying," he said.

The farmers said that transportation of the produce was now a challenge. Continuous flooding of Umguza River was now forcing them to use an alternative road which has potholes.

"The bridge that we usually use is now often flooded and we are forced to use the alternative road which has potholes and mud. This is causing delays in the transportation of our produce to the market," said Mr Ncube.

Meanwhile, some of the farmers said they have failed to work in their fields since Christmas because of the rain. Some of the crop was infested with weeds while some farms had not been worked on.

"Continued rains have prevented us from planting maize since Christmas last year. We are failing to disk because it is too wet and tractors get stuck in the mud when we go into the fields," said a farmer from the area.

Matabeleland North provincial Agritex officer Mr Dumisani Nyoni said farmers who had not planted before Christmas were now facing a challenge because it is too wet to get into fields while those that had planted are failing to weed their crops.

"The people that managed to plant something are those that planted before Christmas when the rains were still little. Now it is difficult for farmers to go into the fields to plant. It is difficult for tractors to work in the wet fields. Even those that managed to put something on the ground are having difficulties to weed and now their crops are dying in the weeds. The only way you can weed these days is by hand plucking," said Mr Nyoni.

Mr Nyoni said he was also failing to plant on his plot in Rangemore, one of the peri-urban farming regions around Bulawayo.

"It is difficult to plant these days, I am having difficulties in planting at my plot in Rangemore. Even when it stops raining for two days and you think you should now plant, the next day it will be raining again," said Mr Nyoni.

He added that farmers had also faced the problem of lack of adequate inputs and capital.

"Farmers are also facing capital challenges because of lack of access to loans. The cost of seed was also too high for farmers as a 10 kilogramme bag of maize was selling at around $18. People could also not afford hiring tractors whose prices had also gone up to $75 a hectare before fuel cost," said Mr Nyoni.

Mr Nyoni also said there was a shortage of tractors as organisations like the District Development Fund (DDF) which used to hire out tractors are now facing operational challenges. Meanwhile, the farmers also said of their crop was being affected by Chilo worms which destroy cereals especially maize, sorghum and sugarcane at early stage. The Chilo worm can be identified by a brown or yellow coloured body with stripes on the spine. If not contained on time, it can be so destructive to reduce yield by between 30 to 50 percent.