Farmers to give ZESA a yellow card

Farmers, mostly from Nyamandlovu and Umguza, the only areas with viable commercial farming under irrigation in the dry province, have gone for nearly a month without electricity which has resulted in most of the winter cropping suffering from moisture stress.

The congress was expected to look into problems faced by farmers in the province and the issue of power outages takes centre stage.

ZCFU Matabeleland North chair, Irene Maphenduka, said the situation on the farms was critical as most crops were wilting due to erratic power supply by ZESA. She said the shedding pattern by ZESA had also led to the breakdown of some irrigation equipment in the farms.

We have gone for three weeks without ZESA (power) in Nyamandlovu, I tell you our crops are in stress. When we meet for the congress this is one of things we want to iron as farmers to say something has to be done because we would remain poor if we dont stand up, she said.

Other problems discussed at the congress included lack of transparency in the distribution of inputs where farmers from the region have always found it difficult to access seeds, implements and loans. The farmers also planned to deliberate on the need for reviving the restocking programme in the region, as this is the only viable activity due to poor rain pattern.