Panda farmers look forward to bumper harvest

Breadbasket: The black cotton soils of Pandamatenga are the mainstay of the country’s cereal and pulse production. Farmers there are now adding horticulture to their output PIC: THALEFANG CHARLES
Breadbasket: The black cotton soils of Pandamatenga are the mainstay of the country’s cereal and pulse production. Farmers there are now adding horticulture to their output PIC: THALEFANG CHARLES

Farmers in the country’s most commercially productive agriculture region expect a healthy harvest of different crops this year, including an 11% increase in sorghum output, helping national aspirations for food security. Staff Writer MBONGENI MGUNI writes

With about 40,000 hectares of prime black cotton soil and one of the country’s highest average rainfall amounts, the Pandamatenga commercial agriculture area is an arable farming paradise. And this year the area has again delivered the goods for the country, at a time when crops in other regions are wilting under the heat stress of the now all-too-common mid-season dry spell.

For this year’s harvest, the Pandamatenga Commercial Farmers Association (PCFA), which represents 30 farmers in the region, expects production across cereals and pulses to reach 77,178 tonnes, compared to 76,600 tonnes in the 2021–22 season. In the 2020–21 season, farmers produced 85,841 tonnes, suggesting that after last year, this season’s production is a rebound to better output levels.

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