The workshop, aimed at conserving soil fertility while minimising farming input costs, was attended by 10 female and 10 male farmers drawn from across the political divide.
Government Agriculture Extension workers provided lectures at the workshop while CADEC supervised the proceedings. Initially, 60 percent of the participants were expected to be female, since they constituted the majority of communal farmers and family heads.
“The main thrust of this workshop is, among other issues, to encourage farmers to practise zero tillage as a cost effective measure and way of conserving soil fertility. Zero tillage enables land to retain its fertility while protecting it against soil erosion, promoted partly by tilling the land.
“We would also urge farmers to grow small crop varieties such as sorghum, millet, ground nuts and beans as this helps retain nutrients in the soil,” said a government extension worker.
Farmers were urged to complement zero tillage with organic farming to cut input costs. Participants described the workshop as an eye opener as they struggled to meet farming costs.
“We are struggling to maximise productivity from our exhausted pieces of land,” said a participant, Mavis Zvarehwa.
Post published in: Agriculture