Harare — Zimbabwe faces another poor agricultural season if significant rains do not fall over the next few days, farmers said yesterday.

Over the past few weeks, the condition of the staple maize crop across the country has deteriorated without signs of the current dry spell ending any time soon.

Farmers have also expressed uncertainty over how their banks will treat them after they accessed inputs under Government's loan facility, but can now not pay these back.
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Such provinces as Midlands, Matabeleland North and South, Manicaland, and parts of Mashonaland East and Central, and Masvingo have have been experiencing long dry spells with some areas having last received rains before Christmas.

Yesterday, Agriculture Minister Joseph Made said the situation "was not rosy" due to the dry spell and the fact that farmers had experienced problems in accessing inputs at the start of the season.

"This year farmers planted one million hectares (of maize) compared to around 900 000 the last time.

"We are looking at how we can save this hectarage. In the northern parts of the country moisture will continue, but it's unfortunate that we cannot say the same about the southern parts of the country.

"A1 and A2 farmers had done very well and indeed the standards were very high. The provinces that are of major concern are our southern provinces . . . (including) strangely some parts of Mashonaland Central."

He said erratic electricity supplies had compounded the situation adding that fertilizer producers had faced challenges owing to energy and water shortages.

In an earlier interview on Monday, he warned farmers against applying top dressing fertilizer during the current dry spell as this would further damage the maize crop.

In a normal season, most farmers would now be applying top dressing.

He urged farmers to be patient and to work closely with extension officers.

"As we approach another week of the dry spell, farmers are urged to wait a little bit before applying top dressing. The ministry is therefore urging farmers to work closely with their extension officers who will provide guidance to them on what to do and when.

"Some crops might get worse if they are top dressed so farmers, especially commercial farmers should be cautious and be patient because it is better to delay applying fertilizer than to kill their crops."

He said farmers should avoid unnecessary further cultivation of crops as this exposed soil to moisture loss.

The minister said they were preparing the first crop assessment covering all the country's regions.

In some areas, farmers are reportedly thinking of replanting while others had already done so as their first crops were now a complete write-off.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers' Union acting president Mr Isaiah Marapira said replanting was not advisable as the season was too far advanced.

"The situation is bad countrywide. The season is already out in terms of planting and there could be a disaster if it does not rain this weekend," Mr Marapira said.

He, however, said farmers could plant sunflower and sugar beans.

Zimbabwe Farmers' Union director Mr Paul Zakariya said replanting depended on whether significant rains would fall during the remainder of the season.

Mashonaland West farmer Mr Claudio Musina said he was already counting his losses as he watched his crop wilt under the dry conditions.

"Unfortunately, some of us do not have irrigation facilities and we depend on rains. Hopefully, financial institutions will be lenient when dealing with those who applied for input loans," he said.

Those who are beneficiaries of the input loans said they were afraid of losing their property to financial institutions because they were not in a position to pay back their loans.

Some observers have pointed out that the farmers could have abetted the disaster by taking heed of the weather forecasts made last year and planned their activities accordingly.

In July 2009, experts predicted a dry season attributable to the El Nino weather phenomenon and advised farmers to invest in irrigation and short-season varieties.

The Meteorological Services Department forecast normal rains for Harare, much of Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central, north-eastern parts of Midlands and most of Manicaland for the first three months of the rainy season.

Below normal to normal rains were forecast for Matabeleland North and South, Masvingo, the greater of the Midlands and the extreme southern parts of Manicaland and Mashonaland East.

For the period January to March normal rains were expected in Mashonaland provinces, north-eastern parts of Matabeleland North, most of Manicaland, northern parts of Masvingo and northern parts of Midlands.

The department predicted below normal to normal rains for most of Masvingo and Matabeleland North, the extreme southern parts of Manicaland, Matabeleland South and the southern parts of Midlands

Dry planting from mid-October was encouraged.

Zimbabwe has for several years experienced debilitating droughts leading to poor harvests and food shortages.

Zimbabweans consume about 1,8 million tonnes of maize a year.