Agriculture Specialist Writer
CLUSTERING of wheat farmers for easy service delivery is fast taking shape, with Government urging combine harvester owners and other service providers to register for participation in 2024 winter wheat production activities.
A recent notice from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development's Institute of Agricultural Engineering department said: "The country expects a 2024 bumper wheat harvest and we would like to bring every combine harvester owner and service provider into the agricultural mechanisation development alliance 2024 wheat cluster service programme. Let's harvest wheat early in preparation for projected 2024/25 season La Nina phenomenon."
Registration will be done in all the country's eight rural provinces as well as Harare or by visiting any Ministry of Lands office in the locality of the service provider.
Agricultural Engineering, Mechanisation, Farm Infrastructure Development and Soil Conservation chief director, Engineer Edwin Samuel Zimunga said having achieved a record-breaking winter wheat hectarage, Government was now leveraging on every piece of combine harvester in the country to be used to expedite harvesting of the crop and avoid rain damage as the forecast La Nina weather pattern looms.
"As Government we will be coordinating the harvesting platform where we link farmers without combine harvesters or access to combine harvesting equipment with those who have. The platform will connect farmers to an individual combine harvester owner or service provider, then coordinate the same at national level," Eng Zimunga said.
Speaking during the wheat-based food security conference hosted by Zimpapers and partners in Harare early this year, Eng Zimunga observed that mechanisation was a key enabler for the winter wheat programme to accomplish the following seven key farming operations -- land preparation and tillage, planting and sowing, chemigation and fertigation, irrigation and watering, harvesting, post-harvest processing and preservation and storage.
A wheat farmer can have access to mechanisation equipment through buying, leasing, borrowing, barter trade and contracting.
Since 2018 the country has been mechanising agricultural production with the John Deere (US$51 million) and the three phases of Belarus (US$272 million) also providing combine harvesters among various agriculture equipment.
Among other services provided are spare parts and fleet maintenance, agricultural implements and attachments, generators and field operations.
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This year's winter wheat sits on 121 982 hectares with over 600 000 tonnes of the crop expected at an average yield of five tonnes per hectare.
Government this year turned challenges experienced in the past wheat seasons into enablers for enhanced production. This included the ring-fencing of 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity for winter wheat to avoid disrupting irrigation scheduling, enough irrigation for 140 000 hectares as well as the introduction of seasonal billing by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa). Other enablers include availing of adequate seed, chemicals and fertilisers, obtainability of finance from Government and private sectors, coordinated monitoring and evaluation, mechanisation, insurance, joint ventures and migratory pest surveillance through use of seven drones.
The Government also announced an incentive planning price of US$440 per tonne for wheat with assurance of timeous payments to farmers for all the wheat delivered to the Grain Marketing Board.
