Heavy rains threaten cotton yield

Heavy rains being experienced across the country could cut the 2020/2021 cotton production in the Midlands Province, farmers have warned.

The incessant rains are causing extreme wet conditions, making it difficult for the cotton plants to extract nutrients from the ground.

Leaching levels are severe and the rains are destroying the cotton plants at fruiting stage.

Farmers in Gokwe, the country’s largest cotton growing region, who spoke to this publication said the heavy rains were causing weeds to grow fast, become taller than the plants and chocking off much-needed aeration around them.

This is forcing farmers to resort to hand-weeding. Chemicals are being washed down, making crops more susceptible to attack by pests.

“We are receiving a lot of rains this year. The rains are now too much to the extent that leaching levels are high; fertilisers, chemicals including herbicides are getting washed away.

“You can’t spray. You can’t apply fertiliser. You can’t weed. There is little hope in cotton this year in Gokwe,” farmer Mr Stanford Dube said.

Zimbabwe has been receiving relentless rains since the beginning of the season in November last year, triggering widespread flooding in both rural and urban areas.

Most farmers in Gokwe are sponsored by the Government under the Presidential Cotton Inputs Scheme, a programme being administered by the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe.

There are also other private companies financing farmers in Gokwe.

“The rains are now too much, my cotton is badly affected. Cotton balls close to the ground are already decaying. Chemicals are being rendered useless because they are being washed away by the rains . . . sometimes three times a day,” another farmer Mr Delight Ndlovu said.

Cotton Producers and Marketers Association chairman Mr Steward Mubonderi, said while the crop condition in some areas was satisfactory, farmers needed more top dressing as incessant rains were causing serious leaching.

“The majority of farmers under the Presidential Inputs Scheme only get one 50kg bag which even under normal circumstances is not enough,” said Mr Mubonderi.

“Now with heavy rains being received, it makes the situation even worse. So we are appealing to the Government to provide more fertiliser to achieve optimal yields.”

Some hopeless cotton growers are already switching to maize crop, hoping to salvage something this season.

“There is little hope and those with maize seed are planting hoping to harvest something,” a 46-year farmer, who declined to be identified said.

Prominent farmer Leonard Chikomba, has already written off about seven of the 23 hectares he planted. Still, he could lose more hectarage given that torrential rains continue.

“We have never experienced such amounts of rainfall. This is too much. The fields are unworkable. This year I grew 23ha but as we are speaking seven ha are a write-off because of the rains.

“I have lost hope as the rains are continuing. We can’t even weed because the fields are damp and unnavigable because of water. We are only resorting to hand-weeding. Chemicals are being washed away and I feel this year we just wasted a lot of resources.

“We hope our sponsors give us more chemicals and fertilisers for what is remaining,” said Mr Chikomba, who is also legislator for Gokwe-Kabuyuni constituency.–herald.cl.zw