Government has urged farmers to replant their maize crop which did not germinate due to poor rains and that which is wilting because of a recent dry spell.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development responsible for Cropping, Davis Marapira on Friday said Government was concerned that a significant proportion of the 800 00 hectares of maize planted so far this season was wilting under severe moisture stress.

Government wants 1,6 million hectares under maize cultivation to produce 2.2 million tonnes of the grain to meet national requirements and stop imports of the staple food.

"We are urging our farmers to replant their maize crop if improved rains fall for them to get good harvests. We are concerned with the state of the planted maize crop which is now wilting and it would be prudent for farmers to replant the crop if rains fall in the coming few weeks so that farmers boost their chances of good yields," he said.

Deputy Minister Marapira said erratic rains were causing headaches for policy-makers.

"We are still optimistic that the rainfall situation will improve to enable continued planting up until the end of this month (December)," he said.

He said only irrigated maize was in good condition at the moment.

Government set a target to grow 14 000ha of maize under irrigation.

Deputy Minister Marapira challenged farmers to shift to drought-tolerant small grains.

"Our appeal still stands that farmers should seriously consider growing small grains which can thrive even in extreme weather conditions marked by erratic rains.

"The small grains can go a long way in mitigating food shortages in the event of yet another drought," he said.

Government set a target 400 000ha for small grains like, sorghum and millet.

Source - http://allafrica.com/