IN the last discussion on fighting drought-induced food shortages, we argued for the return to traditional drought-tolerant crop varieties that our forebears have developed and adapted over thousands of years to cope with this recurrent phenomenon.
Even in the current severe drought, it is evident that if small grain crops like sorghum, finger and pearl millets and legumes such as cowpeas and round nuts had been planted from the start of the season, the yield outlook would have been much better in several provinces.
In this episode we turn to strategies for enhancing rainfall and water availability and bring in the element of traditional rain-making practices.
Traditionally, African societies have always conducted rain-making ceremonies before each cropping season.
Among the Shona-speaking communities of Zimbabwe, these rain-making ceremonies are called mukwerera.
Chiefs and headmen will normally mobilise the people.
Each family is expected to contribute in kind a quantity of grain to be used in brewing traditional beer for the mukwerera ceremonies.
Normally, only elderly women who have passed menopause and pre-puberty girls are involved in carrying out the various tasks and errands associated with rain-making.
Any other persons involved must abstain from sexual activity for a minimum of three days prior to participating in any preparations.
The local ‘mhondoro’/spirit medium or other highly respected ancestral spirit mediums (midzimu) provide spiritual leadership to these ritual ceremonies.
When done properly, these ceremonies always bring about rains.
We argue for them to be conducted religiously so as to ensure timely rains. Even in drought years, the spirit mediums will acknowledge the ‘dryness’ of the season but will plead with Musikavanhu for useful rains to be provided.
And they are always provided.
Another strategy to enhance the rainfall in a given season is the traditional practice of kupetera.
Every year, just prior to the onset of rains, individual farmers approach the local mhondoro spirit medium to plead for a good rain season.
They each bring gifts of tobacco (chambwa), several metres of black cloth and a small sum of money as a consultation fee.
Almost invariably after such a visit to the residence of the spirit medium, the zumba, the rains will fall in the area where the individual’s farm is located.
In some cases the rains may cover a wider area, but in most cases they will be confined to the area where the request originates.
If some misdemeanour has been committed by the person making the request, the rains may fail to come.
Often the mhondoro will reveal the offence and ask the guilty party to make restitution by paying in cash or kind.
Another important strategy to ensure high probability of getting good rains is observance of chisi the one day per-week traditionally reserved for rest.
No agricultural field operations such as ploughing or weeding can be carried out on the chisi day.
Rains are reported to ‘jump’ over fields of those who fail to observe chisi.
Many recently settled farmers have ignored chisi at their own peril.
It could be the reason the rains ‘jump’ your farm so often!
Some will dismiss this as mere conjecture, but we are very serious about the practical benefits of following our traditional religious practices.
Take advice; comply with chisi in your local area.
It could make the difference between success and failure under rain-fed crop production.
There is a host of other taboos that if breached result in poor rains in the locality of occurrence.
Most of them relate to morality among the local population or failure to follow or respect traditional practices.
Chiefs and headmen are familiar with these taboos while the uneducated dismiss them as primitive!
The phenomenon of makunakuna relates to incestuous relationships between close relatives, one of the strongest taboos in Shona society.
An example is the situation where a father has sexual relations with his daughter.
This is totally unacceptable and will ‘dry’ up the skies so to speak.
The guilty party will have to confess the crime and pay restitution to the ancestral spirits of the land.
Only then can there be expectation of rainfall.
There are cases where taboos are breached by individuals on the advice of traditional healers practising witchcraft involving sexual acts, murder and severing of body parts for ritual purposes to get rich quickly.
These crimes are punished by rain failure and are discovered when locals use traditional methods to identify the cause of the drought.
Generally, murder, infanticide and other anti-social and criminal acts will invite retribution from the ancestral spirits and Musikavanhu in the form of failure of the rains in the locality.
In recent times, however, many Zimbabweans, especially those converted to Western Christianity, apostolic, prophetic and other churches, have shunned traditional religious ceremonies.
Many holy mountains and shrines (madendemaro) have been invaded by various persons masquerading as apostles, prophets and other quasi-religious organisations.
The result has been disruption of rainfall patterns.
Western religious churches and other ‘miracle’ prophetic organisations have lured many away from our traditional religious practices, further isolating Zimbabweans from their spiritual foundations in Musikavanhu.
We argue here that an important strategy to mitigate against drought is to follow our African traditional religious practices so that we enhance the chances of good rainfall.
The link between evil practices and immorality and punishment in the form of poor rains is well appreciated by traditional Africans.
Therein lies the power of our African culture and religion: Good rains are tied to good moral behaviour!
Who says our religion is backward?
The last strategy for our discussion is to embrace fully the various irrigation technologies available locally and abroad.
These need to be developed and adapted to our local needs and circumstances.
The challenge is for our technocrats to engineer unique irrigation solutions for our local conditions.
If properly harnessed, our total rainfall, even in drought years, is more than adequate to meet our agricultural and industrial needs.
Zimbabwe, we understand, has the largest volume of impounded (dammed) water in sub-Saharan Africa.
We should not be crying over drought; we should be exporting food grown under irrigation.
We therefore call on Zimbabweans to move beyond populist policy pronouncements relating to climate change and agriculture.
We need action on the ground.
We must mobilise our indigenous knowledge and technologies for rain-making to enhance our food security.
The struggle for food and nutrition security continues unabated.