Calvin Manika
IN another move to boost the agricultural production, villagers in Mashala ward 8 under Chief Hwange received top dressing Ammonium Nitrate (AN) fertilizer under climate proofed Presidential Input Scheme popularly known as Pfumvudza/Intwasa.
Speaking to The Zambezi Times Monica Tshuma said the programme is helping them as most of the people in the rural areas cannot afford to buy inputs and the provision of inputs at their local centres has made their lives easy during the Covid -19 pandemic period.
“This scheme is really helpful, our crops are doing well and we pray that rains will continue so that we will have a good harvest,” she said.
The programme is being monitored by government Agritex officers and other stakeholders for proper implementation. This publication established that Hwange has not yet recorded any case of abuse of the presidential scheme inputs as has been the case in other areas.
The late distribution of top dressing fertiliser was attributed by its late delivery at the Hwange GMB depot as the type of the distributed fertilizer is being imported from South Africa.
Meanwhile, the country’s lone Ammonium Nitrate (AN) fertilizer producer, Sable Chemicals, says it is struggling to meet rising demand for fertilizer as more farmers seek the product to increase their yields.
There has been a high demand for top dressing to save mainly maize crop from leaching. Sable Chemicals signed a MoU with the government to supply 60000 tonnes of AN fertilizer for the 2020-2021 summer cropping period.
