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Obert Chifamba Agri-Insight
TODAY marks 11 days after the 2023 fire season officially got underway on July 1.
Traditionally, it would end on October 30, but this has since been pushed to November 30 following the realisation that more fire incidences were still being recorded even beyond this cut-off day.
The Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Ministry duly announced the change in a public notice published in the Government Gazette of June 17, 2022.
This decision was essentially inspired by the need to match the climatic changes being experienced both domestically and globally that have seen rainfall patterns changing with veld fires continuing outside the statutory fire season in recent years.
It is an undeniable fact that with the passage of the October 30 date, most people would naturally assume that the worst was over and let their guard down, which left them vulnerable to losing a lot of possessions including crops to random fires.
In recent times, the onset of the rainy season has tended to delay until December or even January of the following year, which has allowed dry matter to remain available to fuel fires.
Farmers and other landowners have always been accused of being the major drivers of veld fires that eventually spread to other areas amid disappointing indications that most of them are not adequately prepared to contain wild fires should they chance to happen.
They do not have adequate equipment and knowledge on veld fire management and containment.
In some cases, the same farmers that are alleged to be starting most of the fires do not show commitment to control the veld fires even if it may be clear that they can do so if they want.
It is baffling to expect responsible citizens to accept the usual claims of incapacitation to act that the farmers usually hide behind.
There is nothing that stops farmers from working in groups to control the rampaging fires.
It is unfortunate that the spirit of ‘each man or farm for himself or itself’ taken root in most farming communities making it difficult for the people there to work together for the good of both production and the environment that they all direly need to be productive.
Some of the farmers do not have the capacity to act on their own, hence the need for them to align with those that are capacitated so that each of them brings their different expertise to the table and leave this ‘lone ranger’ way of doing business.
One sad reality that the country has to contend with is that the majority of farmers are just not complying with the veld fire pre-suppression, suppression, and post-suppression measures while those that make the effort usually do so partially or in a shoddy manner that renders the measures ineffective.
The commonest excuse for most farmers is that they do not have adequate manpower to fight fires when they break out. It is, however, anybody’s guess that such a problem will not require intervention from outside but just the swallowing of pride to seek help from neighbours or establish fire-fighting teams that are always on stand-by during the dry season when fires are common.
The formation of such teams will enable the various farmers to bring various pieces of fire-fighting equipment that wold have been difficult for an individual to assemble.
Pooling of resources by groups or a group of farmers from one community can help a lot in fighting and containing fires. Groups usually stand a better chance than individuals in predicting, preventing, managing, and fighting veld fires.
Team work can make it easy for farmers to share information on critical points such as early warning systems, ways of controlling the fires and the proper way of setting up barriers such as fireguards within their farm areas.
Group members can even contribute funds for the procurement of modern fire-fighting equipment such as water bowsers, fire beaters (instead of tree branches), protective clothing, tractors or graders to set up fire-guards and even drones for collecting critical data and identifying hotspots to be attended to first.
Incidences of veld fires have significantly increased in across the country in recent time with expansive tracts of land being torched yearly leaving the environment severely damaged. Communities’ or individuals’ economic livelihoods have also gone up in flames in the process, which has negatively impacted on the country’s push the economy.
This has naturally made it imperative for all citizens to act. It is not just a case of farmers acting to save crops or pastures but all players along the various crop and livestock value chains need to be active participants in the push to tame the rampaging infernos.
It is refreshing to note that the Government, working with various stakeholders and development partners has stepped up veld fire management awareness campaigns to achieve set targets of reducing veld fire inspired losses in line with the aspirations of the National Development Strategy (NDS1).
It is, however, unfortunate that all these efforts seem to be failing to land on fertile soil with veld fire cases continuing to rise with each year that comes.
This seems to be creating the impression that merely prosecuting offenders is not deterrent enough to see cases dropping, which may require the country to adopt stiffer penalties that include heavy fines and lengthy jail terms for convicted people.
In most cases fires are no started for very important reasons but freak ones for which other alternatives to the use of fires could have been used successfully.
Observations have revealed that at least 85 percent of veld fires start in farming areas with protected areas accounting for as little as 15 percent with human activities being responsible for most of the fires generally.
Some farmers use fires to clear land for cultivation but fail to contain them within their targeted zones of operation.
This comes back to the fact that they need to work as groups if they are to use the fire option successfully without allowing it to go out of control.
At the moment the Government’s Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme is making it possible for farmers to circumvent the fire route and use dry matter and crop residue as mulching material instead of burning it.
This programme should logically see a fall in the cases of veld fires that were usually a result of the failure by farmers to keep fires they would have started to clear the land under control.
For now, the farmers should be pushing to ensure that they use all locally available resources productively and not scorch them.
Around 90 percent of the country is highly vulnerable to veld fires, which makes it prudent for all citizens to try by all means to minimise risks of veld fires where there are no adequate measures in place to tame them.
The Government has since approved the 2021 Fire Season Veld Fire Management Strategy that was accompanied by calls on local authorities to also prepare plans to deal with the fire menace.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter