THE 2015/2016 summer cropping season will carry many painful lessons for us as Zimbabweans.
We received many warnings about the impending rainfall deficit due to the El Nino weather phenomenon.
At some point many people began to think the warnings from the weatherman were almost causing alarm and despondency among actors in the agricultural sector.
Indeed many faint-hearted players gave up on preparations for the cropping season.
The cropping season responded to the early warnings in dramatic fashion; the rains were late, arriving in most localities in December, around Christmas time. The rains were erratic, almost as if they emanated from accidental splashes from an over-filled open drum carried in a scotch cart along a very bumpy road.
The scattered rainfall events were violent, with thunder, lightning and unprecedented gusty winds that ripped off the roofs from many buildings including classrooms and houses. The falls were ever so light, never wetting the soil profile beyond a few centimetres.
And the sun was harsh, beating down with ferocious intensity you could literally feel the heat penetrating your skull! The educated quickly concluded that the intense rays must be those of the much-talked about skin cancer-causing ultra-violet radiation breaking through gaps in a depleting ozone layer! Then the temperatures went up, breaking decades-old records. This indeed looked like climate change had finally arrived in a bang.
The intense heat quickly evaporated the moisture from the light rainfall. And there the farmer’s nightmares started. Frantic efforts were made to plant crops. Because the moisture was limited, germination was very poor. Valuable seed was lost. Attempts to re-plant were hampered by the lack of soil moisture; not to talk of the high costs of the inputs limiting the amount of inputs farmers could purchase.
And then the erratic rains literally stopped. In some areas the rains did not even start in earnest. The greatest horror was to watch the few germinating seedlings wilting under the merciless sun. The optimists and the better-resourced dry-planted again in anticipation of the arrival of heavier showers. January remained dry, turning most early-planted crops into write-off cases.
In Masvingo and the Matabeleland provinces, many areas hardly received even those initial showers. Many farmers did not plant anything and those who did watched helplessly as their crops wilted to death. There was no grass for the livestock and finding water for man and beast became a real nightmare as dams and rivers dried out. Thousands of cattle died from starvation and thirst.
Food and water shortages began to affect many parts of the country as the Government responded by mobilising various food security measures including grain importation programmes. Special Task Forces were set up to work on logistics of importing and distribution of food especially to vulnerable communities in rural areas. The Grain Marketing Board received funds from Treasury to pay all farmers the arrears for maize delivered in the last cropping season.
It was indeed a national emergency. The truth is that the warning signs had been on the horizon for some time.
Despite the tell-tale warning signs of a changing climate over the past few seasons, we seem to have made few adjustments to prepare for what hit us. To its credit, Government sourced irrigation and other farming equipment from Brazil which is now deployed in the small holder sector with a promise for more to cover A2 farmers and others. Some of the equipment was distributed and installed just in time to ameliorate the current drought crisis while the rest is at various stages of installation and operationalisation.
While we are made to understand that Zimbabwe possesses the largest volume of impounded water in black Africa, we are yet to exploit in full this valuable potential.
The most glaring shortfall was in the supply of appropriate seed varieties for drought-prone areas. Although small grains were identified as ideal for drought-prone areas, nobody seems to have thought the El Nino would make the whole country drought-prone. Farmers continued to look to the sky for adequate rains for the popular staple, maize.
It would seem that most seed companies take small grains as minor crops with a small market for which heavy investment in research and development are not warranted. The lessons of this season will likely change that perception as farmers wake up from the maize-maize slumber and consumers realise that we must eat what can be grown locally.
Growing drought tolerant crops is one critical weapon that should be in our arsenal.
The GMB is collaborating with other public and private sector partners in a programme to multiply small grain seeds to ensure that farmers in low rainfall areas can access appropriate seed. In drought years such as this season, drought tolerant crops must be grown across the whole country as an insurance against hunger and starvation.
We need more research and development in agronomy, crop protection, post-harvest handling, storage and processing of these crops. Agronomy manuals must have full information on the management of these critical crops. Millet, sorghum and rapoko must become a component of our strategic gran reserve.
I called up a reputable agricultural chemicals company and was advised that crop chemicals for some of the small grains and legumes such as cowpeas were not available.
A lot of water has accumulated in our dams and streams. It would be prudent for Zimbabwe to organise farmers for an intensive winter cropping programme that would see us cutting our grain imports by half.
By organizing farmers, banks, input suppliers, processors and technical support from public and private sector stakeholders, maize can be produced in large quantities through irrigation in frost-free areas.
The recent donation of winter-grown maize to Government by a local sugar company shows that we can easily overcome situations such as the current food crisis.
Come September-October, Zimbabwe would be harvesting these winter crops to meet a significant part of its grain deficit. This way we would create employment along the grain crop value chain, save on foreign exchange to import maize and increase industrial capacity utilisation.
The trick is to channel some of the funds currently being used to import grain to capacitate local production. That to me is a sustainable solution to our drought-induced food insecurity.
We should take advantage of the current (late) rains to plant maize in areas where supplementary irrigation is possible. Such production would reduce our grain import bill.
My argument is that we Zimbabweans have the capacity to be self sufficient in food crops. We need to be a little more innovative and to believe in ourselves as a people. Foods and nutrition insecurity can be wiped from our midst through a robust national programme that exploits all our potential to produce food with irrigation as a main pillar.
Tiri kurasika papi? Kumhanyira kunopfumisa vokunze tichitenga chikafu ikoko asi medu mvura irimo, ivhu tinaro, vanhu varipo?
The struggle for sustainable food security can be won within a season or two.