GUIDELINES for the Government-private sector farming lead 11-tonne plus club maize competition geared at boosting productively through competition among farmers countrywide have been set.
Launched in March, the 11-tonne plus club competition is open to all Zimbabwean farmers who managed to plant more than 11 hectares this season and are achieving high yields of 11 tonnes and above.
The 11 Ton Plus Club competition contributes towards the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development thrust of Going for Growth (G4G2023) through the encouragement of farmers to increase production, productivity, profitability, and effective and efficient agricultural partnership.
“The club would facilitate improved agricultural production, productivity, and profitability through farmer motivation. Farmers who meet or surpass the target of 11 tonnes per hectare will be rewarded at a high-level function.
“The ultimate goal of this 11-tonne-plus elite club is to enhance production and productivity,” reads part of the registration and adjudication notice from the ministry.
The competition seeks to, among others, provide a source of farmer social capital, offer a platform for farmer motivation, and also provide a source of technical capital where farmers share successful technical ideas.
It also aims to promote competitiveness amongst farmers, which eventually leads to improved production and productivity.
According to the ministry, the farmer competition targets commercial maize farmers who have planted 11ha or more of maize in the 2022/23 season.
“It is meant to encourage farmers to increase productivity per hectare. The competition enables the best farmers to be rewarded for their hard work and Good Agronomic Practices (GAPs) in maize production,” reads the notice
To qualify for the competition, a farmer should have planted at least 11ha of any maize variety in the current season and should produce at least 11 tonnes from one hectare, which will be randomly selected from his or her field for judging.
The ministry said maize will be harvested at physiological maturity with the participant farmer meeting the costs of combine harvesting the maize from his or her field and moisture testing at the nearest Grain Marketing Board (GMB) Depot.
Once interested and qualifying farmers have registered with their local extension workers, the farmer together with the extension officer will do a pre-assessment of the field to determine if the farmer qualifies.
Names of qualifying farmers will be submitted to the district ARDAS office which then organises final judging.
The assessment will be done by a district assessment committee composed of District Agronomist ARDAS (Chief adjudicator), selected supervisors from ARDAS and at least two representatives from Farmer’s Unions will judge selected farmers.
Provincial and National team adjudicators will also judge selected farmers. However, seed companies will not be part of the adjudicators but are free to witness the process while women farmers are encouraged to enter the competition. – The Chronicle
