{"id":99217,"date":"2024-10-04T11:49:19","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T09:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/seed-co-govt-launches-national-crop-farming-competition"},"modified":"2024-10-04T13:52:30","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T11:52:30","slug":"seed-co-govt-launches-national-crop-farming-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/seed-co-govt-launches-national-crop-farming-competition","title":{"rendered":"Seed Co, govt launches national crop farming competition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>THE government, working with seed producer Seed Co, has launched a competition that is expected to boost agricultural production among smallholder farmers who constitute approximately 80% of the farmers in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n<p>The National Crop Farming Competition (NCFC) is expected to empower smallholder farmers for the 2024-25 season, with the competition taking place at district, provincial and national levels.<\/p>\n<p>The NCFC, which encourages participation of farmers across the country to showcase their agricultural skills and creativity, is designed to empower smallholder farmers by providing them a platform to demonstrate their potential in producing a bumper harvest.<\/p>\n<p>The competition comes at a time when Zimbabwe is battling the effects of an El Nin\u0303o-induced drought which wiped out crops in southern Africa, impacting 68 million people and causing food shortages across the region.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the launch of the competition in Harare this week, Seed Co managing director Felistus Ndawi-Gurajena said the competition would promote the adoption of good agronomic practices that unlocked the genetic potential of the Climate Smart Seed varieties to mitigate the effects of climate change.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt Seed Co, we recognise the vital role that smallholder farmers play in our agricultural landscape, constituting approximately 80% of the farmers in Zimbabwe,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTherefore, this competition is an opportunity for these farmers, to showcase their hard work and dedication while fostering a spirit of collaboration and innovation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy focusing on yield, we aim to highlight the importance of effective seed section, it starts with the right seed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To enter the competition, farmers are required to buy a 10kg bag of maize or 10kg bag of sorghum seed from reputable distributors and send the receipt to the seed company\u2019s WhatsApp number.<\/p>\n<p>NCFC prizes will include seed, fertiliser, scotchcarts, grinding mills, motorcyles, 5kVA solar systems and mobile tractors, among others.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFarmer will compete within their district, allowing localised (grassroots) adoption of good agronomic practices in local environments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis stage focuses on creating a strong community of growers who can share knowledge and techniques on how to produce a bumper harvest while growing Seed Co climate smart varieties,\u201d Ndawi-Gurajena said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe top performers from each district, will advance to the provincial level, where they will compete against other districts. This stage will highlight regional best practices and innovative farming techniques.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinally, the highest yielders from each province will compete on the national stage. This will culminate in a grand event where the best smallholder farmers will be recognised, and the overall winner will be determined.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe Follow Africa-Press<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. THE government, working with seed producer Seed Co, has launched a competition that is expected to boost agricultural production among smallholder farmers who constitute approximately 80% of the farmers in Zimbabwe. The National Crop Farming Competition (NCFC) is expected to empower smallholder farmers for the 2024-25 season, with the competition taking place [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":99216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[19],"class_list":{"0":"post-99217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-economy","9":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.1 (Yoast SEO v24.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Seed Co, govt launches national crop farming competition - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE government, working with seed producer Seed Co, has launched a competition that is expected to boost agricultural pr ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/seed-co-govt-launches-national-crop-farming-competition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seed Co, govt launches national crop farming competition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE government, working with seed producer Seed Co, has launched a competition that is expected to boost agricultural pr ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/seed-co-govt-launches-national-crop-farming-competition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-04T09:49:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-04T11:52:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/10\/sm_1728030131.519388.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"402\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/seed-co-govt-launches-national-crop-farming-competition\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/seed-co-govt-launches-national-crop-farming-competition\",\"name\":\"Seed Co, govt launches national crop farming competition - 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