Early warning critical in drought mitigation

create resilience in the event of one.
As climate change and climate variability impacts worsen, droughts have caused much anguish on communities destroying crops, animals and livelihoods, especially in the southern half of the country.
Now most farmers are confused, uncertain whether to plant or defer planting, as erratic rainfall makes planning difficult.
Mr David Nyamadzawo, a small-scale maize farmer in Matepatepa near Bindura, almost 100km north of Harare, said rainfall trends in the area have not provided enough guidance to continue with well co-ordinated agriculture activities.
He said he had put the first seed into the ground on December 24, 2011 following a week of rainfall, but this was soon followed by a long dry period.
He has had to hold off planting for a very long time, as he helplessly watched some of his crop wilt under the scorching heat.
“We have tilled and planted some few hectares, but I cannot say we are clear about the future because of the rapid changes in the rainy season,” Mr Nyamadzawo said.
“It seems more likely we will have more sunshine than rains this season.”
Zimbabwe’s historic peak rainfall season runs from October to January with precipitation levels of up to 800mm of rainfall in Harare and less than half that figure in some areas such as Matabeleland South.
These patterns have seriously shifted in recent years, however, and are no longer predictable.
During the present season, some areas have received more rains than others while it is also reported several areas in Masvingo, Midlands and Matabeleland have experienced little to no precipitation at all.
In light of this, Government and other partners need to act fast to protect people from any drought shocks in the current year and avoid being caught flatfooted as is usually the case.
There are sufficient signs that point to a drought this year. These include the extended dry periods, extreme high temperatures and annihilating absence of rainfall.
Carefully planned strategies to contain the impending food production catastrophe must be instituted now.
Such strategies may include planting of drought resistant crops and early maturing seed varieties.
Crucially also, farmers must be weaned from an over-reliance on rain-fed agriculture, promoting irrigation instead.
The Rwandese government announced recently it will acquire 19 000 solar-powered irrigation pumps to be distributed to farmers until 2016, as part of measures to promote clean smart agriculture and lessen dependence on rainfall.
The challenge of electricity for farmers using irrigation in Zimbabwe could be addressed by using the Rwandan style.
There is a project in Chiredzi that is being funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), and run by the local office of the UNDP together with the Government.
The project is a pilot one, which was recently praised by the GEF for generating demonstrable strategies that improve farmers’ responses to climate change and variability.
These strategies can be borrowed and applied elsewhere in the country where the risk of extreme weather shocks are high, and improve drought and climate change resilience.
GEF says Chiredzi, where 60 percent of households were found to be food insecure, seeks to enhance adaptation and food security by promoting the use of more than one or two crops, improving water use, building benefit sharing institutions amongst other factors.
However, there is still need to promote a hands-on approach to utilising climate forecasting tools, use bottom-up and participatory processes in project design as well as the need to develop institutional capacities and policy frameworks at national and local levels, said GEF.
Just last week, Zimbabwe escaped tropical cyclone Dunda, which caused excessive flooding in some parts of South Africa and Mozambique washing away houses, bridges, roads and power cables.
In a recent report, the World Bank predicted that at least 1,5 billion people would be at risk of extreme weather conditions such as earthquakes, cyclones and floods by 2050.
It added that there was heightened need for adequate preparation to limit damage.
Climate change is real, and that means adaptation strategies cannot be delayed any longer.
God is faithful.