Dry spell stalks Mudzi

She is humming a song but seems not to be enjoying the tune.
Although physically she is in the fields, there are enough signs that her mind and soul have drifted far away from the sun-roasted maize crop.
Gogo Plaxedes Cheurove, is so occupied in her mind that she does not hear the car screech to halt near her field.
We had to disembark and walk towards her but still she continued with what she was doing unaware of her surroundings.
I had to shout to get her attention to which she responded lazily.
“Oh! I didn’t see you arrive my child, how are you. I am observing what the mighty God has done to us this time around.
“We have lost all our crops and this is another year of looking to the Government and non-governmental organisations for assistance,” she says with a grin that unfortunately did not match her body language.
She holds the stalk of the maize plant in front of her that has turned brown and continues her monologue while we listened.
“I had enough grain to take me through the entire year but I sold it after the promising signs of a bumper harvest.
“For the first time in years we received good rains early. At that time everyone thought of a bumper harvest but midway into the season the rains stopped and crops have dried.
“Just imagine the area last received meaningful rains beginning of January and the prolonged drought period has completely wiped our season,” she added.
Ambuya Cheurove is not alone in her predicament but is part of tale of a district that is battling to survive and requires urgent attention if people are to avoid starvation.
A persistent dry spell hit the country over the past two months, adversely affecting crops in many parts of Zimbabwe resulting in failed crop for most farmers.
Although the problem extends to other areas in the province, the people of Mudzi district in Mashonaland East require urgent attention before they start losing livestock to traders, who already are offering grain in exchange of cattle and goats.
Mr Luckmore Goronga of Ngarwe bemoaned the danger that comes with failed crops in the area saying there was no way by which Mudzi can pull itself out of the fix.
“It is unfortunate that the district again has failed crops as that means a surge in panning and stream bank cultivation.
“All our sweat has gone to waste as the rains abandoned us at the crucial stage in maize growth – the tussling stage when they needed more water.
“The heavy rains that pounded the area during the first part of the season were most welcome but for the better part of the second part of the season we have watched in disgust as the sun scorched our labour to nothing,” he said.
He, however, expressed optimism that heavens will open up and allow the people and livestock to get drinking water and pastures improve otherwise even our animals will starve.
“What we now pray for is enough rains so that pastures grow. These animals are our only hope,” he added.
A peasant farmer, Mr Charles Kativhu said he had put all his hope on his sorghum and millet crop but the hopes were fast fading as the skies continue being mean.
“At first I thought I would not be affected by the dry spell but after a month of no rains and I became worried as the drought resistant crops also started wilting.
“As such we have resolved to graze our animals in the field so that we can guard our places against fires.
“We have lost everything that we put into the fields from the seed to fertiliser. The situation has been worsened by the fact that the Environmental Management Agency has outlawed stream bank cultivation where we used to grow vegetables and mealies for sale,” he said.
Grain and Cereal Producers Association president Mr Denford Chimbwanda said: “A preliminary assessment by my association has shown that thousands of hectares of crops have been destroyed.
“Communal and resettled farmers are the worst affected and will have their harvests crippled by the dry spell.
“The net effect of this is that Zimbabwe will have to depend on imports to meet its food requirements,” he said.
The situation calls for the government to urgently move grain from areas of surplus to the district.
Government has already instructed the Grain Marketing Board to start moving grain to affected areas to alleviate the situation that is threatening half of the country’s provinces.
Mechanisms should be put in place to ensure the grain is available at a reasonable price to ensure everyone in need gets it.
With the country having 270 000 tonnes of maize in its stocks, Government can easily move grain to Mudzi and other affected areas in Zimbabwe.
That, however, has to be fast to avoid starving among the people.
This is to ensure that no one starves as well as keep at bay individuals who would like to take advantage of the shortage to rip off villagers.
Climate scientists say the changing weather pattern is making it difficult for farmers to time their planting and predict the extent of the rains.
Although experts predicted that the country would receive above normal to normal rainfall over the two halves of the rainy season, the rains have not been fairly distributed resulting in some areas in the same zone receiving different amounts of rains.
Agricultural experts say the situation is a wake up call for Government and people in the area to move away from long season varieties and maize to short season and small grain varieties that do not require lots of rains.
They argue that, as the seasons become more unpredictable it was critical that people in low rainfall areas resort to rapoko, mhunga and other small grains that are not only drought resistant but also highly nutritious.
By this, the people can solve the issue of hunger and nutrition.
The seed situation has been made easy by the fact the some organisations have established seed banks for small grain crops.
Maize grain can thus be moved from other areas into low rainfall areas from areas of surplus with ease, now that maize production is on the rise again.
National grain production rose significantly in 2009 and 2010 and the trend is expected to continue.