Maize production in communal areas of the Zambezi, Kavango East and Kavango West regions have improved to 8 300 metric tonnes (MT) during the 2019/20 harvesting and production season, the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform said. The ministry in its crop and food security report availed to Nampa on Thursday, indicates that the improvement is about 525% higher than the last season’s harvest of 1 300 MT and 24% above the average production of 6 600 MT. “Much of this improvement is from the Zambezi Region which recorded an increase of 59% above the average production and 540% over last season’s harvest. In contrast, maize production in the Kavango East and Kavango West region showed an improvement of 128% of last season’s poor harvest, but is down by 91% of the average production,” the report reads. According to farmers, the below-average maize production is due to impacts of fall armyworms experienced as well as less maize planted this season when compared to the normal planted area, it adds. Maize production in the commercial areas showed considerable improvement of 55 800 MT which is 94% higher than last season’s harvest of 28 800 MT and 29% above the average production of 43 200 MT. According to the report, this improvement is as a result of a recovery in harvest recorded from the dry land maize producers in commercial areas. “It is important to note that about 52% representing about 33 456 MT of the maize production, a total of 67 039 MT, came from the rain-fed production while 48%, 30 583 MT came from irrigation schemes. Both rain-fed and irrigated maize recorded an improvement of 37% and 10% of last season’s production respectively,” it adds. Furthermore, pearl millet production showed considerable improvement of 95 100 MT which is about 926% higher than last season’s harvest of 9 300 MT and 65% above the average production of 57 500 MT. Similarly, sorghum production has also shown significant improvement of 3 400 MT which is about 788% more than last season’s poor harvest, indicates the report. -NAMPA