Thupeyo Muleya — Beitbridge Bureau
Mazwi Goto (46), a farmer in the Zhovhe area of Beitbridge West constituency believes strongly that all farmers in this drought prone region should be in the frontline of raising awareness and triggering action against climate change through the adoption of climate-smart agriculture.
He says climate change is a major threat to food security in their region.
"The rewards of adopting climate-smart agriculture benefit the family beyond food security," he says.
"We are in a very dry region and although we have very fertile soils, most farmers have been struggling to produce more due to the erratic rainfall patterns."
The Government and various local and international NGOs have been promoting climate-smart agriculture that involves farming practices that improve farm productivity and profitability.
The concept helps farmers adapt to the negative effects of climate change and mitigate climate change effects, for example, by soil carbon sequestration or reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate-smart practices, such as the locally practised conservation agriculture, aim at conserving soil moisture, retaining crop residues for soil fertility, disturbing the soil as minimally as possible and diversifying through rotation or inter-cropping.
Goto has benefited immensely from training and various capacity-building initiatives.
"After attending a number of farmer training workshops and visiting other farmers within our region, I decided to drill two boreholes which are solar-powered to boost irrigation," he says.
The farmer has hired full-time employees and seasonal workers at his farm.
Goto conducts horticulture and livestock rearing on a piece of land he was allocated in 2016. He has adopted climate-smart agriculture techniques.
"I feel climate-smart agriculture is the way to go. I have started installing drip irrigation on 6 hectares of maize and I have installed two big water tanks to store irrigation water," Goto says.
The drip irrigation system, he says, is an ideal method, which uses little water with high productivity.
Drip irrigation is a type of micro-irrigation system credited for saving water and nutrients by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either from above the soil surface or buried below the surface.
Under this type of irrigation water is placed directly into the root zone of the plant to minimise evaporation.
In the past, Goto used canals, sprinklers, or flood irrigation to water crops, which was capital intensive and inefficient method of irrigation as only about 20 percent of water is actually used by plants and the rest is lost as run off, seepage and evaporation.
"With the drip irrigation facilities, I have been able to grow cash crops throughout the year and it is paying off for me," he says.
"The crops are planted on rotational basis and these include tomatoes, onions, green pepper, watermelons, butternuts, and cabbages."
His plot is located near Zhovhe Dam which is one of the 10 biggest dams in Zimbabwe.
He says using drip irrigation had also helped him to increase his yield and to control weeds as compared to the other irrigation methods.
At the peak of production, Goto says he employs between 15 and 20 seasonal employees to complement his eight permanent workers.
He adds that most of his farm produce including meat was being supplied to markets in Beitbridge and Bulawayo.
"In view of the effects of climate change, it is important for farmers in the district to embrace drip irrigation and maximise production with less labour.
Setting up a drip irrigation system is a seamless process, you only need the right expertise and source of water," says Goto.
Besides crop production he is also into animal husbandry with a stock of 130 cattle, 80 sheep, 130 pigs, 1 000 chicken layers.
Climate-smart agriculture is paying off for him.
Goto says it took him five years to break even. Now things are changing.
He has managed to deliver 70 heifers to the Presidential Livestock Scheme, bought an 8-tonne truck, a tractor, and tractor-drawn plough, and two business stands in Beitbridge town.
He hailed the Government for coming up with the land reform programme which has seen more indigenous black farmers emerging as commercial farmers of note.
"The late, (Mr) Hudson Mhlanga, a farmer of repute helped me find my feet in the agriculture sector. Fellow resettled farmers are advised never to give up on their dreams. They need to get involved in a lot of training and enlist the assistance of technocrats and already established farmers to maximise production," says Goto.
Beitbridge District Agritex officer, Mr Masauso Mawocha, says it is important for farmers to adopt the use of the drip irrigation method, which often produces better yields.
He said where the method is used, the farmers should expect to harvest at least tomatoes (50t/ha), Irish potatoes (25t/ha), butternut (20t/ha), green paper (15t/ha), watermelons (70t/ha) and cabbages 80t/ha.
The official said most of the challenges facing emerging farmers in the area included, low livestock prices, inadequate water supply for human and livestock consumption, and the long dry spells for crops.
Other challenges, he says, include the lack of functional agricultural output markets, unaffordable prices of agricultural inputs, poor communication network onwards along the Limpopo basin, human-wildlife conflict, hyenas and wild dogs preying on donkeys and goats, lack of draught power, general lack of labour as youths are in the diaspora and the lack of irrigation schemes in A1 resettlement areas.
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Climate change has in the past few decades adversely affected smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe and most countries in the Sadc region.
Most farmers were feeling the impact of climate change due to reduced water availability, reduced food and nutrition security, livestock deaths and crop failures and a decline in their general wellbeing.
Smallholder farmers typically depend directly on agriculture for their livelihoods and have limited resources and capacity to cope with shocks.
And, any reductions to agricultural productivity can have significant impacts on their food security, nutrition, income and well-being.
In 2018, Zimbabwe launched three policies to adapt and mitigate against climate change, including a Climate-Smart Agriculture policy to ensure that farmers adopt climate-hardy farming practices like conservation agriculture.
A Child Friendly Climate Policy was developed to educate school children about climate-friendly practices.
Goto’s small step to adopt climate-smart agriculture is a positive adaptation measure that can help farmers in the arid and dry regions reduce their vulnerability to climate change and cope with the negative consequences.
Read the original article on The Herald.
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Zimbabwe: Climate-Smart Agric – Winning Strategy for Farming in Drought-Prone Regions – AllAfrica – Top Africa News
