Despair in Mmadinare as ploughing season ends

Square one: Some farmers have resorted to donkey- drawn ploughs for tillage
Square one: Some farmers have resorted to donkey- drawn ploughs for tillage

A comedy of errors choked the farming activities in Mmadinare this season resulting in effective usage of government- sponsored programmes. With a low harvest bearing down, Staff Writer ONALENNA MODIKWA KELEBEILE finds morose farmers already counting their losses.

As the ploughing seasons ends this week, despair has set in in Mmadinare, as most farmers are yet to plant, despite tilling the soil last October.

Yields are expected to be lower than the previous year and farmers blame the tractor owners engaged by government to till their fields, under the Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agricultural Development (ISPAAD).

Editor's Comment
Don't let FMD outbreak drag on

Acting Agriculture Minister, Edwin Dikoloti, is right in saying opening an export-ready facility whilst Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is still spreading would risk getting the whole country blacklisted before a single carcass leaves the door.A ban like that would break the already stressed nation. So, the postponement, painful as it is, is the right thing to do. The local economy is being squeezed from both ends. FMD has already slammed the door...

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