Seed producer to roll out drought-resistant maize varieties
ZimbaSeed, a local seed variety producer said its new drought-resistant maize varieties will be available on the market before the onset of the summer cropping season at a time when the country is bracing for the El Nino weather pattern.
The varieties, to add to the already existing three, were on trials last season and will be commercially rolled out to farmers, Mr Maxwell Mataka the operations manager of ZimbaSeed said in an interview. He believes the drought-tolerant varieties will help mitigate the adverse impact of climate change-induced adverse weather conditions while ensuring better yields in light of the looming ElNino weather pattern in the next season.
“The country is expecting normal to below normal rainfall and requires varieties that are drought tolerant,” said Mr Mataka.
“As ZimbaSeed, we have two varieties, which we believe are better even with low rainfall and will be on the market this year.”
Zimbabwe is likely to experience a drought in the next season due to El Nino climate phenomena already threatening higher food prices and stoking inflation.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in July declared the start of the devastating climate phenomenon, warning its return would lead to rising global temperatures and extreme weather conditions.
The UN weather agency estimated there is a 90 percent probability of the El Niño event persisting through the second half of the year and it is expected to be “at least moderate strength.”
