Zimbabwe power cuts cause wheat yield disaster

This year’s wheat season has been described as the worst experienced by farmers since the start of Zimbabwe's land reform programme, with production predicted to be well below the 78,000 metric tonnes produced in 2006.

Agricultural analysts, farmers and their organisations expressed concern at the state of affairs on the ground, where the condition of the crop is generally poor owing to a combination of factors. While under normal circumstances wheat starts drying by August in most farming areas, the situation this season is that most of the crop is still at flowering stage, with some fields still under germination.

President of the Zimbabwe Indigenous Commercial Farmers’ Union, Mr. Wilson Nyabonda, said wheat farmers had gone through a terrible season this year. He said while farmers this season managed to receive all inputs and planned on time, the shortage of electricity had seriously affected production.

"For the first time farmers received seed, fertilisers and chemicals well before May. Most farmers accessed fuel as well, which they received without paying cash upfront. Everything was in order right from the onset,’’ he said.

Constant power cuts had, however, affected operations despite promises from ZESA, the sole power utility, that farms would be spared from the country's widespread power "load-shedding" to facilitate irrigation. "This is where things fell apart, as electricity was only reliably available in the first days of May. From there onwards it became a nightmare for farmers,’’ he said.

Nyabonda said farmers from all corners of the country called the organisation to arrange meetings with ZESA as they were not clear what had led to the sudden change. "In some areas farmers could go for four consecutive days without electricity. It became impossible to irrigate and complete the required cycles, resulting in the crop wilting,’’ he said.

As if that was not enough, some farmers suffered heavy losses when their electric motors were burnt due to disruptions in electricity supply.

Nyabonda said as a result, some farmers had decided to abandon some hectares of the crop and concentrate on a smaller portion that suits the availability of electricity. Some who failed to raise money to repair their damaged electric motors completely abandoned the whole crop.

Mr. Edward Mudondo said he lost two electric motors in one week because of a problem caused by power cuts. "I had a 75-horsepower motor burnt at first. This was after load shedding. When electricity was suddenly switched on, it was in a single phase thereby causing some short, resulting in it being burnt. The second one, a 50- horsepower unit, suffered the same damage and I could not raise the money for repairs, forcing me to abandon the crop at knee level,’’ he said.

Another farmer, Mr. Misheck Chimombe, said while germination of his 40 hectares of wheat was almost 100 percent, things became bad with frequent load shedding. "I had top-dressed my crop when my electric motor got burnt. I have had that motor since 2003. These power cuts have destroyed us completely,’’ he said.

Chimombe said he had asked the local AREX (government extension) office if they could assist with an electric motor to save the crop. "I have not received any assistance yet. As a result I am opting to abandon 20 hectares or so and concentrate on the rest,’’ he said.

AREX director in Selous district Mr. Godfrey Sengayi said the situation was sad as compared to other years. He said the district had targeted more than 3,000 hectares of wheat, but less than half of that was achieved. "What is most painful is that this season things were in place with farmers getting everything on time,’’ he said.

While the revised target for this season was 76,000 tonnes, even this was unlikely to be achieved due to problems faced by the sector. The country’s national wheat target was 338,000 tonnes.

Mr. Edward Raradza of the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union said predictions were that wheat production would definitely be reduced this season. "Erratic water supplies due to power cuts has forced most farmers to concentrate on a smaller hectarage than they planted. Seed and fertiliser went down the drain,’’ he said.

Sunday Mail