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Jeffrey Gogo
Climate story
It was purely accidental that Rufaro Makamure’s small individual effort at easing the effects of climate change would later on unfasten the new coronavirus lockdown chokehold on food supply in her home.
The deadly viral outbreak barely a consideration, the Gweru peri-urban farmer last summer moved over to pro-conservation and regenerative farming techniques for better output.
“We adopted most ideas with the aim of lowering our input costs, while at the same time increasing our yield in times of a changing climate,” said Makamure, who inter-crops maize, beans and cowpeas on half an acre.
Even with little rain throughout much of Zimbabwe last farming season, Makamure harvested up-to 300 kg of maize and an unquantified amount of the legumes from her small piece of land.
It wasn’t magic. Just a bit of foresight and a lot of organic farming practices. Over the years, she has gradually reduced the farming area on her land into a manageable size, harvested rainwater while almost trying to eliminate tillage altogether.
While much of the produce is for self-sustenance, Makamure points out that composting, “Zai pits”, drought tolerant seed as well as use of technology “to balance changes brought by the dynamic climate” have helped grow farm output without damage to soils.
“We did not buy any fertiliser or seed (last summer), so we were not greatly affected by the input prices that spiked,” explained Makamure, who describes herself as a “Zimbabwean lady interested in eradicating (household) poverty in Zimbabwe.”
She continued: “The major benefit that we had not even calculated is how we are being protected from the risk of increasing the possibility of getting the coronavirus.
“We could have been among the rest of the families who are forced to compromise on social distancing in search for food, especially mealie meal, but through growing our own food we have basic food which is home grown.”
Coronavirus lockdown measures, including the so-called social distancing, demands that several things are done differently. Makamure appears to have done so well before time, as she notes, avoiding the chaos that followed the lockdown as food became scarce.
Perhaps the most attractive of her not-so-common farming methods are the “Zai pits” — planting holes measuring between 15cm to 30cm in width and going about 15cm deep.
In her words, “Its easy to put manure in them without it being washed away. When it rains, most of the runoff is slowed down and collects in the holes then sinks instead of being lost as runoff. When the flow of runoff is slowed down, it reduces the washing away of top soil as well.
“They make minimum tillage easier because the holes you start off with are the ones you can be using as years go by. It means the digging gets easier and easier because with time all you do is reopen the initial holes.”
These are the holes that gave Makamure about a third of a tonne in maize from a land the size of just five netball pitches. In as much as the Covid-19 crisis is calling for new approaches to life, climate change is demanding even more sustainable ways of farming, which help boost household food security.
As rainfall becomes a perennial concern, farmers who are going to beat hunger are those who do things differently — managing soil moisture, soil fertility well, planting on time and keeping crops weed-free.
Although they will also need other support systems to work well — such as markets and finance services, farmers must now recognise that climate change means farmers must plan for drought every year.
Online Reporter