Former Chiredzi West Zanu pf legislator Farai Musikavanhu says the hot temperature is good for sugarcane farming provided there is adequate water for Irrigation.
Speaking to journalists at a media tour at his farm last week when quizzed about the heatwaves, Musikavanhu said sugarcane requires a lot of sun and these conditions are beneficial to the sugarcane farming business.
“Although heat waves are hazardous, the sun is favourable for crops provided there is adequate water for Irrigation., said Musikavanhu.
This comes at a time when Chiredzi is experiencing a stretch of heat waves as temperatures in the Lowveld region of Zimbabwe have been ranging around 40-45 degrees and rain expires at the end of this month.
Although the hot temperatures are quite hazardous to our bodies, plants beg to differ as photosynthesis is dependent on the sun provided there is adequate water.
Musikavanhu who is the proud owner of Puwevhu Enterprises led the tour of over 120ha of farming area, a vast variety of livestock including his aqua project which produces over 100,000 Mozambician Talapia (Bream) fish.
Puwevhu Enterprises harvested just over 10800 tonnes of sugarcane this year averaging about 993 tonnes per hectare although it was lower than last year’s 108 tonnes per hectare.
During the tour, his son and farm manager, Nyasha Musikavanhu said the slight drop in production was attributed to factors but mainly the late availability of inputs.
“There are several tors that you can not control but we were mainly affected by the availability of inputs.”
Puwevhu Enterprises also produces stock feed from processing sugarcane byproducts at their farm.
Sugarcane is now regarded as a strategic cash crop and is usually planted during the hot weather.
