Farmers lose quarter of crops through poor storage

By The NewsDay | Apr. 18, 2016 | 2 Min read

Zimbabwe Agricultural Society (ZAS) chief executive officer, Anxious Masuka has said 25% of the country’s harvest is lost through poor storage.

BY KENNETH NYANGANI

Masuka made the remarks in Domborutinhira in Mutasa district on Thursday, where the organisation was honouring a farmer, John Chimbodza, who excelled at last year’s Harare Agricultural Show.

He said the country’s harvest should be secured through appropriate structures, before adding that there is also a need for climate change mitigation and adaption to secure our country’s harvest.

“Twenty five percent of the harvest is lost in storage through rodents, storage loses, insect-pest, among other others, we should curb that. The little harvest we have should be secured through appropriate structures,’’ Masuka said.

“Weather patterns have changed over the past decades, although we might be receiving the same rainfall, but the variability in the season has increased such that we need climate mitigation and adaption strategies so that we secure our harvest.”

He said they are holding field days for successful farmers, who made it last year, to motivate others and their local communities.

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Every year, 300 farmers exhibit at the Harare Agricultural Show, 30 from each province before the best four are selected and rewarded with prizes.

ZAS chairperson, Ivan Graig said he was happy with the standard of farming in the country, citing that farmers were facing financial challenges.

“We have various stakeholders, who are supporting this initiative Seed-co is a key component, ZAS do the organising and select the best farmers through judges, who are agricultural experts, but generally I am not happy with farming standards in the country,’’ he said.

“It’s not that farmers are not doing their work, but they don’t have financial power required to achieve the yield according to their area,’’ he added.