SISONKE Working Together Trust, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Agritex and Matopo Research Institute are working on a seed multiplication programme in ward 4 of Bulilima district to boost productivity while empowering villagers in their agricultural programmes.
This was revealed by Sosonke Working Together Trust director Themba Maseko Phiri on Friday last week.
“My farmers have a seed multiplication programme which we conduct with Matopo Research as Sisonke Working Together Trust," Maseko Phiri said.“ They were giving each other input seeds on Thursday.”
Sisonke Working Trust senior coordinator in ward 4, Tokwana Sipho Malebegwa, told Southern Eye that, working with Agritex officer Lenny Tshuma, they distributed seed from a seed bank manned by farmers to promote small grains in the district.
“The major strategic goal of the programme is to work with farmers in farmer field schools to promote drought-tolerant crops as an adaptation measure to climate change using the farmer first approach,” Malebegwa said.
“Mfazo Tshuma, a lead farmer who planted 20kg of the PVK 801 variety using the regenerative agriculture practices. The trial was a success, planted in early December, but did very well with minimal challenges.”
Malebegwa said midway through the season, the farmer encountered some small pests like aphids, but controlled them.
“The trial was planted on friable loam and Kalahari sands. However, the results indicate otherwise. Mfazo is one of our pioneer farmers in this programme. From day one, he has been preaching the growing of small grains as an adaptation measure,” she said.
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Malebegwa said Mfazo had donated seeds to 90 farmers in his village and ward.
“Elsewhere we also had other trials which did very well,” she said.
Matabeleland South districts such as Bulilima, Matobo, Gwanda and Beitbridge are prone to droughts, and agricultural experts have always advised farmers to resort to small grain farming as mitigation against the food crisis that arises as a result of drought.
Sisonke Working Together Trust has been instrumental in empowering communal farmers to increase their small grains yields.
