and Tatenda Gapa

AS farmers were preparing for the 2015/2016 cropping season the Meteorological Services Department (MSD) warned of tough times ahead, forecasting an El Nino that would be worse than anything experienced in the last 18 years.
According to the department, extreme weather conditions such as drought, soaring temperatures, strong winds and hail storms are likely to be experienced this season due to effects of El Nino.
The MSD warned the country is likely to receive normal to below normal rainfall and urged Government to prioritise cloud seeding while advising farmers with irrigation facilities to utilise them rather than focusing on dry land farming. Farmers were also advised to practise conservation farming.
Armed with this update, farmers were either left wanting or making the right preparations for the season to ensure they were prepared for the impending drought.
Most farmers rely on the rains for crop production.
Effects of climate change continue to be experienced in the country with hopes for successful cropping seasons having been shattered by the shifting and shortened seasons.
Last season the Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development ministry indicated that 300 000 hectares (ha) of the cereal crops planted were declared a complete write off.
The 2014/2015 rain season started mid-December, two months later than the traditional start, with climate experts attributing the late start to climate change. This year the same trend is obtaining; two months into the traditional rainy season, there is no rain.
At the just ended United Nations Conference on Climate Change (Cop21) in Paris, France, Zimbabwe and other African countries called for the scaling up of climate change mitigation to present a win-win situation for developing countries. Zimbabwe is also calling on developed countries to provide the means of implementation such as finance, technology transfer and capacity building for developing countries.
With the effects of climate change worsening, Zimbabwe, which has among other countries, the largest number of dams in Africa should not be found wanting.
Experts contend there is need for concerted efforts to mitigate the now frequent and devastating effects of droughts.
According to pundits, the country must move away from rainfall dependence to irrigation. To counter the effects of climate change, President Robert Mugabe said earlier this year, Government would put in place irrigation as a priority.
“We require little persuasion, if any, to accept that we need to develop a national irrigation policy to counter the persistent droughts that are so frequent, and are clearly caused by climate change,” he said.
Professor Isheunesu Mupepereki, an expert in soya beans, said there was need to utilise the water bodies around the country.
“We have dams that are filled with water yet the communities around are still relying on rain-fed agriculture yet they should be utilising the water for agriculture,” he said.
“There is need to develop local capacity and adaptive irrigation measures since most of the irrigation equipment is imported. At times there would be no back up services for repairing them.
“In some cases the equipment ends up lying idle.”
Professor Mupepereki said there was need to invest in the local production of irrigation facilities.
Lessons can be drawn from countries such as Israel which, despite the geography of the country not naturally conducive to agriculture, is not only a world leader in agricultural technologies but also a major exporter of fresh produce.
More than half of the land area is desert and because of lack of water resources do not favour farming. Only 20 percent of the remaining land area is naturally arable.
Israel produces 95 percent of its own food requirements, supplementing this with imports of grain, oilseed, meat, coffee, cocoa and sugar.
Prevailing conditions, according to economist Hubertz Muzikani, point to the need to develop a vibrant irrigation system.
“Research has shown that in Natural Regions III, IV and V rainfall is erratic and unreliable, making dry-land cultivation a risky venture. The success rate of rain-fed agriculture in Natural Regions IV and V has been known to be in the order of one good harvest in every four to five years,” said Muzikani.
“Only 37 percent of the country receives rainfall considered adequate for agriculture and the severe effects of climate change make the development of a vibrant irrigation system critical.”
Natural Region I is a specialised and diversified farming region.
The region is suitable for forestry, fruit and intensive livestock production and smallholders now occupy a significant space in the area after benefiting from the land redistribution exercise.
In Natural Region II flue-cured tobacco, maize, cotton, sugar beans and coffee can be grown and also grown are Sorghum, groundnuts, seed maize, barley and various horticultural crops. Irrigation is required for winter wheat in the region where animal husbandry like poultry, cattle for dairy and meat, is also practiced. This productive region also has a significant number of smallholder farmers.
Natural region III is a semi-intensive farming region with large-scale crop production covering only 15 percent of the arable landwhile most of the land is used for extensive beef ranching.
The region is subject to periodic seasonal droughts, prolonged mid-season dry spells and unreliable starts of the rainy season. Irrigation is critical in the region to guarantee successful crop production.
Natural regions IV and V are too dry for successful crop production without irrigation, but communal farmers have had no choice but to grow crops in these areas even without access to irrigation. Millet and sorghum are the common crops but maize is also grown.
Communal farmers occupy 50 percent of the area of Natural Region IV and 46 percent of the area of Natural Region V.
The one common fact of all the natural regions is the need for irrigation to ensure sustainable crop production.
As Government begins to plan responsive measures, it must intensify its work on resuscitating the country’s irrigation schemes.
With vast amounts of arable land and water sources in the form of dams on many farms, the country must be in a position to carry out agricultural activities throughout the year without depending on rains.