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Bindura Bureau
Around 80 hectares of Mashonaland Central’s winter wheat have been destroyed by veld fires leaving farmers optimistic of high yields counting losses.
The province has about 14 290 hectares under the crop and the losses were incurred since the beginning of the fire season at the end of July this year.
These incidents come at a time government is optimistic that this year Zimbabwe will reap historical yields in the drive to self- sustenance.
A record harvest of over 380 000 tonnes of wheat is expected against Zimbabwe’s annual consumption of 360 000 tonnes.
To avoid further fire outbreaks destroying the province’s wheat fields, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, Climate and Rural Development’s Agritex department has teamed up with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA).
Their quest is for strengthening veld fire awareness campaigns as well as encouraging farmers to create at least nine metres wide fire guards around their fields.
Speaking to Nhau/Indaba on the sidelines of a winter wheat field day at Satchel Farm in Glendale Friday, Mr. Bernard Torevasei a senior agronomist in the Ministry of Agriculture said most of the fires are being ignited by fellow farmers who are clearing their land for the upcoming 2022/23 season.
He encouraged the farmers to be mindful of wind direction every time they ignite the fires as well as informing their neighbours before igniting fires so as to curtail further losses.
“Farmers should be cognisant of the fact that the country’s source of wheat over the past tens of years was Ukraine and Russia but, with the ongoing war it means that the country has to be self- sustainable,” he said.
During Tuesday’s post-cabinet media briefing, Information , Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa said within a week, at least 200 hectares of the crop were destroyed by veld fires countrywide.
She urged farmers to make sure they had requisite fireguards around their farms inorder to avert disaster.
“Farmers are encouraged to have the requisite fire guards around their farms and the public is urged to desist from unnecessarily starting fires as they have grave consequences on human life and property,” she said. Nhau/Indaba
