Farmers miss national target again
- Berea District projected to top maize and sorghum yields
- Mokhotlong expected to lead in wheat production
- Agricultural expert recommends implementation of more effective and sustainable production programmes
BY TSITSI MATOPE
MASERU – Lesotho has again failed to meet its maize and wheat production targets this year despite good rains and provision of subsidies on inputs by government in the 2009/2010 summer agricultural season.
The country would, however, ensure sufficiency in sorghum following a projected production of 28,082 tons surpassing the national requirements with a surplus of 5,000 tons.
Although wheat production is expected to increase by 117 percent compared to the past four farming seasons, farmers were not expected to meet the 38,545-ton requirement.
Poor planning, underutilisation of land and lack of interest in farming by a significant number of people were some of the reasons cited for the continued failure to meet the national production target.
However, Secretary for Agriculture, Mr Mohale Sekoto – whose Ministry was part of the team that collected the projected production data – told Public Eye on Wednesday, August 25, the estimated maize production would not meet the national food requirement of 117,305 tons, with up to 98,035-ton yield being projected.
This, he however said, was much higher than the 57,126 tons produced in the 2008-2009 summer agricultural season.
Of this year’s harvest, farmers were expected to consume 59,407 tons of maize from their produce and sell 38,628, again leaving the country in need of imports to fill the yawning deficit.
Yet despite the damper, the projection report by the National Statistical System of Lesotho showed farmers in the last season had improved maize production by 72 percent.
This year’s “boost” in maize production is attributed to an increase in the area planted, which rose by two percent from 120,479 hectares last season to 122,828 hectares.
However, the overall area planted to all other crops in the country was down by 1.32 percent – from 231,255 hectares in the 2008-2009 season down to 228,210 hectares this year.
Although yields were expected to improve this year, the country ironically experienced an area fallow of 76,703 hectares higher than last year’s 53,095 hectares.
Despite concerns that much land still lay idle – and the continued food deficit – Sekoto is still singing government’s praises for its programmes.
“One of the main reasons why we did not meet our target was because land is still underutilised. On the other hand, although inputs were subsidised, a significant number of people still cannot afford all the necessary inputs.”
While some farmers echoed Sekoto’s sentiments they, however, pointed out they had tried, and failed, to get the much-publicised government subsidies, a situation that they blamed on the country’s continued food insecurity.
Jonathan Mohapi – who is based in the Mafeteng District and is part of government’s Block Farming commercial enterprise launched in 2007 ― told Public Eye on Tuesday, August 31 he was one of “several” commercial farmers in the area who could not get any input support.
“Compared to the previous season, more Block farmers did not benefit from the input loan facility due to non-payment from previous seasons. As a result, the bulk of land here went fallow,” he said.
Another farmer based in Leribe, Rethabile Moletsane, also said he could not afford utilising all his land.
“I only utilised two out of the 10 hectares I had intended to put under crop because I could not afford hiring a tractor to cultivate all my fields.”
Nthabeleng Tsasanyane, a farmer in Ha Ntsi in Maseru rural, however, also attributed low yield by some farmers in the area to poor farming methods.
“Some farmers don’t attend educational meetings on new ways to improve production. They want to stick to the old and poor methods of farming, which no longer work because our soils are no longer as fertile as they used to be,” Tsasanyane said.
Despite failure by farmers to meet the national target, Tsasanyane said she was expecting a bumper harvest this year.
Meanwhile according to the statistics, Berea District was expected to attain the highest maize yield of up to 39,359 tons followed by Leribe with 14,464 tons.
This was despite the fact that Berea utilised less land than Leribe, which had the largest maize hectarage of up to 20,963.
Berea only had 17,972.
Maseru district, in third spot, is expecting 13,343 tons while Qacha’s Nek is expected to record the lowest maize production of 1,674 tons.
The statistical report showed over the years, maize production had remained low with the 2009-2010 season, recording the highest expected yield since the 2005-2006 agricultural season.
In 2005-2006, the country harvested an actual 76,906 tons before maize production declined to 60,312 in the 2006-2007 summer season.
Production further plunged to 59,650 at the end of the 2007-2008 period before it again went under during 2008-2009.
Sekoto said there was need to boost investment that effectively supported and sustained good crop management. “Farmers should prioritise only using high quality seeds and ensure their crop has fertiliser on time. Good and sustainable management is key and this includes proper weeding to help reduce crop disease outbreaks that can seriously affect yield,” Sekoto said.
On the other hand, summer wheat production has had its share of challenges in various districts.
Sekoto said the dryness that characterised the ending winter had dampened hopes of any meaningful production in both the low and highlands.
Highlands farmers produce wheat both in summer and winter, while production in the lowlands was largely in winter.
“Most farmers had hesitated to plant wheat and peas when they realised there were no indications of any moisture this winter. Those who planted are not expecting any significant harvests,” Sekoto said.
However, for the just-ended summer season, Sekoto said wheat production was expected to increase by 117 percent from 4,900 tons last year to 10,640 this year.
“This is way below the national food requirements of 38,545 metric ton.”
Mokhotlong – one of the coldest places in Lesotho – was expected to record the highest quantity of up to 5,588 tons of wheat, followed by Thaba Tseka with an expected 1,118 and Qacha’s Nek in third position with 1,077 tons.
The least production of four metric ton is expected in Mafeteng, while Berea, which in the 2008-2009 season never grew any wheat, did not venture again this year.
Sekoto said his ministry was, however, pleased by sorghum farmers’ performance this year.
Berea District farmers were expecting a bumper harvest, with the highest yield projection of 5,831 tons.
Leribe, with the second-highest projection, was expecting up to 4,605 tons, while projection for Maseru was at 4,496 tons.
Over the years, there has been a drop in sorghum production with the 2006-2007 season recording a production of 7,839 tons from 12,188 the previous season.
Production increased to 10,170 metric ton in the 2007-2008 season, followed by a slight decline of 10,151 tons for the 2008-2009 season.
This year production was expected to shoot much higher than before, by up to 177 percent.
In spite of the apparent continued struggle to fulfill the country’s food quota, Sekota nonetheless, said his ministry was aware of the potential in agriculture, adding emphasis should be placed on the implementation of the value-chain management system, especially to small-scale farmers.
“This entails planning ahead in order to know where you are going to get all your inputs to be able see how enhancement of production can be attained. Farmers should not just plant crops without also considering the critical marketing aspect of the produce,” he said.
