Maize production goes down

Crop assessments conducted by farmer organisations countrywide have shown that staple maize food production is expected to go down by 50 percent from the initial target of 1,5 million hectares.

The crop assessment shows that farmers across the country have managed to plant about 774 000 hectares due to an El Nino induced drought.

Zimbabwe Farmers Union executive director Paul Zakaria says the country should brace itself for the worst harvest considering that crop output in the greenbelts of Mashonaland East, West and Central will heavily be affected by the poor rainfall patterns experienced this season.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union executive director Jeremiah Tevera also revealed the fact that hectarage has gone by 50 percent paints a gloomy picture on the expected harvest as the bulk of the crop in the greenbelts will not produce the expected yield while a write-off has been recorded in drought prone areas.

While farmer organisations have completed their national crop assessment in terms of hectarage, the Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Dr Joseph Made told the ZBC News through a text message that the agriculture team is still in the field following the current late rains to see the water situation on livestock and the late planted crops.

Some reliable sources, however, told the ZBC News the national crop assessment has since been completed, hence the declaration by the President that the 2015-2016 agriculture season is a state of disaster.