Maize still dominates subsistence farming

12 Oct, 2014 - 09:10 0 Views
Maize still dominates subsistence farming Women preparing to plant maize

The Sunday Mail

Women preparing to plant maize

Women preparing to plant maize

Maize remains the dominant crop in small-scale farming as compared to cash crops like tobacco and cotton, whose dominance at commercial level could threaten national food security, recent research has revealed.

Groundnuts and sorghum also compared favourably to cotton and tobacco in many rural areas, thus boosting household food security and improved nutrition levels in the countryside.

According to Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) 2014 Rural Livelihoods Assessment Report, at 88 percent, maize remains the major crop grown by households in rural areas.

“Maize remained the major crop grown by most households (88 percent) compared to 80 percent for 2012 / 13,” reads the report.

“Groundnuts were the second major crop being grown by households. Generally, the proportion of households growing crops increased except for cotton which showed a decline and soya beans which remained unchanged.”

The dominance of maize in rural farming saw the general average household cereal (maize and small grains) proportion (529,5kg) increase from last year’s 346kg.

Research, however, shows that tobacco may become the major crop in the country replacing maize as more and more communal and A1 farmers each year diversify into tobacco farming.

Communal and A1 farmers are the chief food producers, but for the past few years they have been moving from maize to other crops such as tobacco, cotton and soya beans, which are more lucrative on the market.

According to Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board statistics released in August this year, more than 12 670 farmers have so far registered to grow tobacco next season for the first time ever, with the bulk of them coming from the communal and A1 sectors.

Of the 12 670 new growers, 7 925 are from the communal sector while 4 035 are A1 farmers, 364 and 346 are from the A2 and small-scale respectively.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development estimates that the country will have a cereal harvest surplus of 253 174 metric tonnes in the 2014 / 15 consumption year from a total cereal harvest of 1 680 293MT.

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