Return our grain, farmers tell GMB

Farmers in Gwanda district have given the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) an ultimatum to either pay up or return grain delivered last season.

The ultimatum comes at a time Matabeleland South province is experiencing a devastating drought that has left thousands of households in need of food.

As hunger stalks Matabeleland South following a poor agricultural season, farmers in Gwanda district have demanded that the GMB must either pay up for grain delivered to them or return it immediately.

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Responsible for Crops, Cde Davis Marapira, however, insists that no one will die of hunger as plans have been put in place to assist communities affected by drought.

“We have 138 000 tonnes of maize in our strategic reserves and government will be distributing food to areas hit by drought in the next few weeks to avert hunger,” said Cde Marapira.

Only Mashonaland Central province managed to produce a grain surplus this season.

The government has committed itself to importing food to supplement the reserves.-ZBC

BH24-The Cape bee (Apis capensis) from South Africa could destroy local bee colonies and threaten the livelihood of an estimated 50 000 small scale honey farmers if nothing is done to strengthen monitoring mechanism in the country, an environmentalist has warned.
Environment Africa country director Barney Mawire said the Cape bee could paralyse the local bee population and affect the country’s small but important beekeeping industry.
“Zimbabwe’s bee population is now under threat from Cape bees from South Africa,” he said. “We fear that if they come they might take over local bee colonies. We need to strengthen our local reporting and monitoring mechanism to ensure the survival of our local bees.
“The Cape bees kill local bee varieties and threaten local bee populations.”
Apiculturalists say the Cape bee tends to be a more docile bee than the African bee.
They say it can be distinguished from the African bee by a darker abdomen and is sometimes referred to as “black bees.”
It has a unique characteristic in that the worker bees (females) have the ability to produce both male and female offspring and thus able to re-queen a colony which has become queenless.
The downside of this characteristic, according to apiculturalists, is that it has the ability to parasitise scutellata (African honey bee) colonies.
Capensis laying workers invade and subsequently begin to lay their own eggs, challenging the scutellata queen’s ability to control the colony.
“The original colony becomes overtaken by Cape bees and will collapse,” said Mawire.

Meet the Harare Agricultural Show tractor winner

Faith Mhandu

A sudden twist of events in the agriculture sector in Zimbabwe continues to bring surprises in the country with small scale farmers now eligible to compete and beat commercial farmers.

In the recently held Harare Agricultural Show’s 104^th Edition, the overall winner was a 26 year old communal farmer from Guruve who scooped 75 horsepower tractor.

Mrs Nyasha Chamwazhika-Tapererwa, a mother of two, had no idea of what God had in store for her when she displayed shelled maize and cobs, ground nuts and horticultural produce.

She however received the shock of her life when she was informed that she was the overall agricultural produce winner and now a proud owner of a tractor.

“Although I was confident that my produce was good, I never imagined that I would walk away with a tractor, this is one thing I was not expecting at all,” said Mrs Tapererwa blinking off tears of joy in her eyes.

Immediately after receiving her price, the slender average height dark lady broke into song and dance with fellow farmers celebrating her victory.

Mrs Tapererwa and her husband have been into farming since they married eight years ago and have been blessed with two children.

Mr Tapererwa spends most of the time in Harare where he works as a driver while his wife is a full time farmer.

“Our plot is 12,5 acres of land but we also use our relatives’ idle fields as well as renting  from other villagers,” said Mrs Tapererwa.

“During the 2013/14 summer cropping season we planted 8,5 hectares of maize and we harvested 17 tonnes.”

The Tapererwa family is not new to winning big prices at the Harare Agricultural Show as they have also been the champions of 2010 and 2011 walking away with big prices while last year they took the second price in the overall agri-produce category.

“We both grew up in farming families and as early as 1994 when I was only 16, we used to join these competitions together with my parents and it was a real challenge since we competed with white commercial farmers who had vast experience in the agribusiness.

“In 2010 and 2011, we scooped the overall agri-produce winner and we walked home with a scooter and a motor bike while last year we came second in the overall winner in the agri-produce category and walked away with a ridger,” he said.

The family which produces maize, tobacco, small grains and horticultural produce said they relied much on hired labour which was a bit costly for them.

Mr Tapererwa said he has confidence in the judges who adjudicated their produce as it was done transparently.

“The fact that we won a tractor stirred a lot of controversy amongst some contestants to the extent that Zimbabwe Agricultural Society staff had to visit our farm to authenticate whether we actually have grown what we brought to this year’s show,” he said.

The sponsors of the grand price Southern Regional Trading Company promised to provide operator training and first year service to the winner farmer as a way of alleviating poverty to small scale farmers.

The President

Mr Wonder Chabikwa, The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union President in pictures.

tobacco cheating unearthed

Mr. Wonder Chabikwa. ZCFU president

Hundreds of tobacco bales have been rejected and held by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board after it emerged that some unscrupulous farmers are now putting foreign objects inside to boost weight and dupe auctioneers.


ZBC News visited Boka Tobacco Auction Floors where hundreds of bales have been rejected after bricks, stones, and metal bars were discovered in them.

The foreign matter would be covered by quality tobacco.

The president of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union, Mr Wonder Chabikwa warned farmers against such acts saying it is criminal and amounts to fraud.

Chabikwa said such dishonesty compromises the confidence that the international market has on the local tobacco crop.

According to ZBC news, one farmer whose crop had been withdrawn from the sales refuted the allegations, but instead accused the TIMB officials of swindling the farmers through the rejection process.

According to the TIMB regulations, any farmer who is caught cheating is fined $20 before he is allowed to regrade his crop for resale. source: ZBC

Draft agric policy announced

The Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development has come up with a draft agriculture policy to improve the overall competitiveness of the sector, Minister Joseph Made has said.
In a speech read on his behalf by the Principal Director, Livestock and Veterinary Services, Dr Unesu Obatolu Ushewokunze, at the Combined Livestock Symposium held recently, Minister Made said the  policy document was focussed on raw material availability, productivity, animal health, marketing efficiency and trade facilitation among other things.

He said the draft policy promotes mutually beneficial contract farming arrangements to help farmers grow key food and feed crops such as maize and soyabeans.  
“My ministry strives to continue improving the management of raw material imports by industry players to ensure efficient and cost-effective raw material acquisition,” he said. He added that the policy also supports improvement in training, research and extension through the Department of Research and Specialist Services, Pig Industry Board, agricultural colleges and universities among others.
Officers from the ministry are expected to collaborate with various private sector institutions to equip livestock farmers with knowledge and skills.  
Minister Made said the draft policy proposes an active role by the ministry in ensuring surveillance, prevention and response to disease outbreaks.
This is aimed at strengthening the Veterinary Services Department in supporting production, productivity competitiveness and sustainable livestock production. Through its departments and parastatal, the ministry is aiming at improving efficiency of the agricultural market system.
“We would like to ensure an efficient and fairness under a liberalised marketing system and as part of the marketing policy, the ministry is committed to value addition of all primary produce to boost the impact of agriculture on the economy,” he said.
The draft policy also emphasises on improving trade in agricultural products through maintenance of liberal
export and foreign exchange polices, simplified agricultural trade regulations and negotiation of favourable bilateral agricultural trade agreements.
Source: Herald

Lack of funding hinders wheat planting

The winter wheat planting deadline of May 15 has passed with few farmers having planted the crop. Most farmers failed to meet the planting deadline due to unavailability of funding.  Others have, however, shifted from wheat due to the high risk associated with the crop to other winter crops like
barley and potatoes. The barley is being grown under contract.
Agritex director Mr Joseph Gondo confirmed that farmers have started planting wheat in different parts of the country.
“Farmers have started planting wheat, especially those who have finished harvesting soyabeans. There is no Government funding and farmers are using their own resources,” he said.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union vice-president Mr Johnson Mapira said few farmers were planting wheat due to the absence of a funding facility.
“Most farmers who have planted have used their own resources while a few have managed to access loans from banks,” he said.
Mr Mapira said farmers in Glendale, Mazowe and Bindura have started planting the crop.
Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union second vice-president Mr Berean Mukwende said lack of funding has affected many farmers who had planned to grow the crop.-Herald