By Derick Tsimba

Government has urged wheat farmers to plant early this 2019-2020 farming season in a move that should ensure  high yields of the winter crop.

On its twitter handle the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement said farmers should plant their wheat between mid-April and the last week of May.

“The optimum time for planting winter wheat is between mid-April and the last week of May and even earlier than that for the lowveld. Sometimes farming can be extended to mid-June but it is not normally recommended.

“Delayed planting will result in loss of about 50 kilograms of wheat per hectare, per day, after May. The first two weeks of May give the best yields in the Highveld areas. Adhering to the option planting time has some agronomic benefits,” said the Ministry.

The Ministry of lands also said planting early would result in early harvesting giving the farmer time to plan for the summer crop.

“Early planting will result in early harvesting around September. One of the key considerations for the adoption of double cropping is early planting and early harvesting for both summer and winter crops. This gives the farmer time to plan for the summer crop,” said the Ministry of Lands.

The Lands Ministry is giving farmers of wheat farming tips in order to improve their productivity this farming season and attain the national target of 416 000 metric tonnes of wheat.