Zimbabwe: Nearly 90 000 Tonnes Of Wheat Harvested And Delivered To GMB
An estimated 90 000 tonnes of wheat have been harvested and delivered to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), representing about a quarter of this year’s projected winter wheat harvest, The Sunday Mail reported citing government officials.
Over 95 per cent of the cereal has now reached the maturity stage, with the authorities advising farmers to speed up harvesting before the onset of the rainy season.
Already, farmers have lost wheat valued at over US$900 000 to veld fires.
Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services chief director Professor Obert Jiri told The Sunday Mail that nearly 90 000 tonnes of the cereal had been delivered to the GMB by October 27. Jiri said:
To date, our farmers have delivered 89 000 tonnes of wheat to the GMB, and we are happy that we have no transport challenges.
HOT DEALS:
itel A70 - (128GB, 3GB RAM) $89,
itel A70 - (256GB, 4GB RAM) $99
itel P40 (128GB, 4GB), (6000mAh) $99
itel P40 (64GB, 4G), (6000mAh) $93
Cash on Delivery in Harare & Bulawayo. Tinotumira kwamuri inosvika.WhatsApp: 0783 450 793
We have witnessed a slow start to the selling season because the production was delayed due to the late maturity of the summer season crops.
But everything is in order and our farmers are on the ground, making sure the grain is harvested before the rains.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Deputy Minister Vangelis Haritatos urged farmers to take advantage of over 110 combine harvesters deployed to 20 centres countrywide to facilitate timely harvests. He told The Sunday Mail in an interview:
We recently lost more than US$900 000 of wheat to veld fires.
This will not adversely affect our projected harvest target. However, one cent lost is one cent too much, so we need to avert any more losses going forward.
Farmers need to utilise the available combine harvesters that were distributed by the Government for wheat harvesting to avoid losses caused by rain.
This year’s rainy season is expected to start during the second week of November and farmers are urged to have finished harvesting as the rainfall compromises the quality of wheat.
Zimbabwe has an annual wheat requirement of about 360 000 tonnes, while this year’s harvest is projected to be above 380 000 tonnes.
Meanwhile, Russia this Saturday halted Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports accusing Ukraine of attacking the Black Sea Fleet near Sevastopol on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula with 16 drones on Saturday.
Moscow also said British navy specialists had helped coordinate the “terrorist” attack.
This will worsen the global food crisis which followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
