EnviroPress Reporter
As changes in climate call for new approaches especially in the agriculture sector to ensure food security, government has allocated about $20 billion in local currency towards the climate smart pfumvudza programme.
The pfumvudza/intwasa programme recorded success stories in the 2021-2022 farming season after a massive marketing campaign led by the government.
More than three million households are targeted for support under the pfumvudza scheme as part of early preparations for the 2022-2023 cropping season.
Chief director responsible for Agriculture Advisory Services in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Professor Obert Jiri said the government will cover an additional 520 000 families for cotton production also under conservation agriculture.
“The Presidential Input Programme (Pfumvudza/Intwasa) will target three million farmers, up from last season’s 2,7 million in communal, A1, small-scale commercial farming, old resettlement and peri-urban farming sectors for cereals, oilseeds and legumes,” said Prof Jiri.
This year’s Pfumvudza/Intwasa scheme will have specific input packages for each ecological farming region.
In the 2020-2021 cropping season, the programme contributed 43 percent of total maize production, while in the 2021-22 season, which was affected by a mid-season dry spell, the programme contributed 35 percent of total maize output.
According to Prof Jiri, the programme will this season support five plots (measuring 39 metres x 16 metres, which is equal to 0,0624 ha) per household.
There will be input packages for maize, sorghum, pearl millet, soyabeans, sunflower, groundnuts, vegetables and African peas.
The packages will include water retention enhancers, herbicides for three plots and fall armyworm control.
“Farmers in Region 1 and 2 will get three mandatory maize plots, two optional plots comprising sunflower, sorghum, pearl millet, groundnuts, African peas and sugar beans. Farmers in Region 3 will get two mandatory maize plots and sorghum or sunflower plot, three optional plots comprising sunflower, sorghum, pearl millet, groundnuts, African peas and sugar beans.
“Farmers in Region 4 and 5 will get one mandatory sorghum plot, one millet plot and one sunflower plot. There will also be two optional plots comprising maize, African peas, groundnuts, sorghum and millet.”
Success of the conservation agriculture programme, he said, would be anchored on sticking to set timelines, particularly early digging of planting holes.
“The use of mulching to conserve moisture and superb and judicious weed control is important. The programme was also assisted by timely availability and distribution of inputs, particularly seed and fertilizer,” said Prof Jiri.
The pfumvudza programme is being encouraged as a measure to address the problems of low productivity, low production and low profitability of farming which continue to negatively affect the food security situation in the country.
The programme targets particularly the smallholder farmers who are required not to plough their land but to simply dig holes and plant their crops as means to conserve the little moisture that could be in the soil.
This project was made possible through a partnership with the Southern Africa Trust. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent that of the Trust or its associates. www.southernafricatrust.org
