adminSamuel Kadungure Senior Farming Reporter
FARMERS whose production operations are entirely rain-fed reliant have been advised to maximise on the current wet spell and start to plant food crops for the 2015 /16 season with those in drier and drought prone regions being urged to stick to short season and drought-tolerant varieties. The majority of farmers in Manicaland depend primarily on rain-fed agriculture for their grain food and despite strides being made to improve productivity and environmental conditions, a great number of these resource poor farmers still face poverty, hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.
There is a correlation between poverty, hunger and water scarcity and, most importantly, new and complex challenges emerging due to global warming and climate change. Several parts of Manicaland that include Odzi, Nyazura, Headlands, Mutasa, Nyanga, Honde Valley, Burma Valley, Rusitu, Chiendambuya and Mayo, among others have received rains exceeding 25mm in the last few days and planting has started.
Drier parts of the province like Chisumbanje, Buhera, outer parts of Makoni, lower parts of Nyanga and Chimanimani and Zimunya-Marange has not received meaningful rains to sufficiently recharge soil moisture.
These areas have been identified as the “hot spots” of suffering with the largest prevalence of malnourishment. These areas are in the semi-arid and dry sub humid hydro-climates where rain-fed agriculture is the dominating source of food and where water constitutes a key limiting factor to crop growth.
Agritex head for Manicaland, Mr Godfrey Mamhare, said farmers in areas with sufficient soil moisture could start planting food crops. Mr Mamhare said farmers in drought prone regions should practice conservation agriculture (CA), a new technology that is based on minimum soil disturbance, crop residue retention and crop rotations is considered as a soil and crop management system that could potentially increase soil quality and mitigate the negative effects of climate variability.
When CA is combined with drought-tolerant maize varieties, farmers can reap the benefits of both crop improvement and sustainable land management. Mr Mamhare said the new initiatives that were started to test the two climate-smart agriculture technologies on farmers’ fields and long-term trends showed that CA out yields conventional tillage operations in maize and legume yield comparisons.
“The season has started and farmers should be in full swing planting. They should plant when the moisture is still abundant, ensure that the depth is good (five to 10cm) and ensure proper fertiliser placement. “We are encouraging farmers to plant short season and drought tolerant varieties and to stagger their planting to mitigate the negative effects of climate variability,” said Mr Mamhare.
He said 240 000 hectares would be put under maize, 23 000ha (tobacco), 56 150ha (sorghum), 24 750ha (finger millet), 43 300ha (pearl millet), 32 910ha (cotton), 67 420 (ground nuts), 13 425ha (beans), 1 599 (wheat) and 3 400 (potatoes).
However, it remains to be seen if the targets will be attained considering that the season started late against a backdrop of a localised rainfall forecast indicating that for the period January to March 2016, Manicaland, Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, Masvingo and the southern parts of the Midlands provinces were likely to receive below normal rainfall.
For the period October to December, the same areas would have experienced normal to below normal rainfall. A regional outlook issued by the SADC Climate Services Centre in August indicated that most mainland SADC countries, including Zimbabwe, would receive between normal to below normal rainfall.
During the 201 /15 season, Manicaland failed to attain the same target and instead, planted 192 238ha under maize, 42 521 (sorghum), 18 387 (finger millet), 37 387 (pearl millet), 8 387 (cotton), 54 751 (ground nuts) 24 610 (tobacco), 8 270 (beans), 486 (soya beans) 2836 (potatoes) and 910 (wheat) and since then nothing has changed for better to inspire confidence in farmers apart from the worsening economic challenges.
Zimbabwe is an agro-based country whose economy is at the mercy of the vagaries of the weather and diversification contributes positively to livelihood sustainability because it reduces proneness to stress and shocks. Zimbabwe’s rainfall season usually starts in October, but indications are that it has further drifted to mid and end of November. The end of the rains is also varied, ending usually around early February.
Today’s climate has deviated from the past — the seasonal cycle, rainfall and weather patterns have altered due to climate change — occasioning frequent droughts, crop pest and disease incidences. Rain-fed agriculture plays an important role in global food production as 80 percent of agriculture is rain-fed and contributes about 58 percent to the global food basket.
However, the potential to improve yields depends strongly on rainfall patterns. In dry areas, rainwater harvesting can both reduce risk and increase yields. Risk management is crucial in rain-fed agriculture. The higher the risk of crop reductions from droughts and dry spells, the lower the likelihood that farmers will invest in inputs such as fertilisers, improved varieties and pest management.
Mr Mamhare said farmers in drier and low lying areas like Buhera, Lowveld and Chisumbanje should not experiment with maize as severe hunger that is spreading like a cancer in these areas was partly because of planting crops (maize) unsuitable for their areas. He urged them to concentrate on early maturing and drought resistant crops like rapoko, sorghum and pearl millet.
“To those in natural regions which receive less rainfall, we are saying stop experimenting with maize because the danger is that their areas are drought-prone and there is no sufficient water to sustain maize, which is not tolerant to moisture stress.
“Our clarion call is that they move away from the tradition of growing crops in areas that are not suitable for the sake of it as this will lead to a severe shortfall in production to meet their annual food requirements. We expect farmers to heed our advice,” said Mr Mamhare.
Mr Mamhare said if farmers in these drier areas, who often lack tillage muscle, wish to plant maize, they must then dedicate small portion using the conservation farming method. The method is easily affordable and takes advantage of natural ecological processes to conserve moisture, enhance soil fertility and improve soil structure, and to reduce soil erosion and the presence of diseases and pests.
Conservation farming involves very little soil disturbance and involves low labour input and its effective utilisation of natural ecological processes. Decreased rainfall and rising temperatures have thrown many farmers in Buhera and Chisumbanje into confusion. Seasons have become unpredictable making it difficult for farmers to plan properly.
Erratic rains have caused crops to wilt before maturity. Climate change experts are placing the blame for the changing weather patterns on the increasing amount of gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide and other gases such as methane and nitrogen — commonly referred to as greenhouse gases — are causing the earth to heat up. The severity impact this on food self-sufficiency was being felt at household, and fears abound that the food shortages, in turn, might deteriorate into a famine and a humanitarian disaster.
Online Reporter