adminSamuel Kadungure Farming Matters
THE eagerly awaited rains have started pounding Manicaland, inevitably marking the onset of the belated 2014/15 planting season. The rains came a bit late as the same period last year the country had already planted 885 000ha of cereal crops and therefore farmers must expeditiously and assiduously exploit this wet spell to plant all crops.
However, they should not plant blindly, but act in accordance with the expert advice from agronomists and weather experts.
Several parts of Manicaland like Odzi, Nyazura, Headlands, Mutare, Rusape, Mutasa, Nyanga, Honde Valley, Burma Valley, Chipinge, Chiendambuya and Mayo, known hubs of maize production have received a fair share of rains in the last few days and planting has started.
Similarly drier parts of the province like Chisumbanje, Buhera, outer parts of Makoni, lower parts of Nyanga and Chimanimani and Zimunya-Marange have received encouraging rains, sufficient to recharge soil moisture, but farmers need not plant anyhow.
They must wake up to the reality of climate change.
Our farmers have suffered a succession of poor harvests with yields far below what the country needs due to their inability to obtain seed varieties that can survive the low rainfall caused by climatic shifts.
Despite erratic rainfall, farmers have continued to follow traditional planting seasons. This has increased their frustration as crops wilt from lack of rain.
Farmers in these drier and drought-prone parts of the province should stick to drought-resistant crops instead of the staple maize because meteorological department projections are that except in Region One, normal rainfall will be received during the October-December 2014 period and from late January until the end of the season in March, the rainfall should be below normal, suggesting an early end of the season for these two regions.
This means if farmers go overdrive and plant maize, the crop will suffer miserably in the scorching heat and may never reach maturity.
Agritex boss for Manicaland Mr Godfrey Mamhare on Wednesday said farmers in areas with sufficient soil moisture can start planting food crops.
“The greater part of the province has received some rains sufficient to recharge soil moisture. Areas such as Headlands, Mayo, Chiendambuya, Nyazura, Rusape, Odzi, Osborne, Honde Valley, Chimanimani and upper parts of Chipinge and Nyanga districts which are traditionally the province’s food baskets have received good rains and we are urging farmers throughout these areas as well as any other part of the province that has received rains to start planting grain crops. The 2014-15 planting season has dawned with the inception of the rains over the weekend.
Those in areas that fall under natural regions one to three can plant maize, preferably the short season and drought-tolerant maize varieties,” said Mr Mamhare.
He said farmers in drier and low-lying areas like Buhera, Lowveld, Chisumbanje should not experiment with maize as severe hunger that often spreads like a cancer in these areas was partly because of planting crops (maize) unsuitable for their areas.
Mr Mamhare urged them to concentrate on early maturing and drought-resistant crops like rapoko, sorghum, cow peas and pearl millet.
“To those in natural dry regions 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. They should stick to drought-resistant crops as we have often seen in past successive seasons that these areas experience severe crop failure due to early termination of the rains. We are encouraging them to move away from the culture 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 portions of land to it 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 impact of this on food self-sufficiency was being felt at household level, and fears abound that the food shortages, in turn, might deteriorate into a famine and humanitarian disaster.
Functions of Zimbabwe Meteorological Services Department to agriculture sector
The department is there to raise public awareness on climate change issues and depending on its projections, is responsible for cloud seeding operations to increase the chances of obtaining precipitation from potential clouds to minimize the impact of dry spells.
Since Zimbabwe has an agro-based economy, the meteorological services department is there to provide key information to the agricultural sector. Provision of area specific weather bulletins to support agricultural products, the use of such products such as agro-met bulletins, rainfall bulletins, seasonal weather forecast updates, onset, end of rainy season, dry and wet spells, frost forecasts, degree days and crop monitoring yield forecast models and other prognosis models help the farmers in forecasting crop yields.
MSD 2014-15 Seasonal Rainfall Forecast for Zimbabwe
This information was extracted from the MSD website www.weather.co.zw as at November 19, 2014.
The forecast, mainly based on rainfall, is divided into two: October to December (OND) and January to March (JFM). The forecast is also divided into 3 zones (Figure 1). The zones were determined using long-term meteorological and physical data and so delineate areas within Zimbabwe with similar characteristic. Although they are demarcated by lines, they are in effect zones of transition.
The Outlook of the 2014-15 Summer Rainfall Season for Zimbabwe
Present meteorological conditions and indications for the next six months are for the following:
Normal rainfalls with a slight bias towards above normal rains are expected over Region 1 throughout the season.
For Region 2 and Region 3 projections are for normal rainfall for the October-December 2014 period. However, from late January until the end of the season in March, the rainfall should be below normal, suggesting an early end of the season for these two regions.
Implications of the forecast for the 2014/15 Rainfall season.
Farmers in the northern parts of the country, specifically in meteorological region 1, are encouraged to increase hectarage since mostly normal rainfall is expected. The rainfall may be biased towards the above normal.
Farmers in Region 2 and 3 are most likely going to experience a short season, hence planting with the first rains is encouraged, staggering plants and an option for small grains would be encouraged.
There is need to enhance the rainfall this season. As such the national cloud seeding programme is encouraged.
Irrigation is a must for those with access to dams with water.
The policies of small dam construction and borehole drilling/deepening should continue, mindful of changing climate;
Those with water should not wait for the main rains to fall. They can plant from the end of September as the temperatures will be high enough; Inputs, including small grains, should be distributed to all regions by the end of September; Incentives for maize production for the purposes of grain reserves should be urgently provided, rather than wait until the middle of the season.
People should be encouraged/warned to refrain from selling willy-nilly their grains from the previous season unless they have no choice.
The forecast for reduced rainfall over region 3 is a cause for concern, especially for people as well as wild animals in the National Parks in Matabeleland and Masvingo provinces, hence the need to secure water reservoirs.
Online Reporter