Stephen Mpofu
Global warming induced recurrent droughts or not, Zimbabweans and other people on our continent need not starve but for their failure to rid themselves of a mentality that the white colour of maize is holier for a rich diet than the colours of small grains now driven into virtual obscurity in our country, for instance, resulting in widespread food shortages.

According to a report from the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (Zimvac), and published in this newspaper three days ago, more than seven million Zimbabweans are food-insecure with some rural communities going for more than a month without getting their monthly disbursements as a result of the coronavirus pandemic constraining grain imports necessitated by two years of poor rainfall caused by global warming which is wrecking havoc across the globe.

A Bulawayo-based agricultural science fundi and prolific author, said this week that people on this continent should not suffer hunger but for their failure to remain “Afrocentric” by growing small grains that fed millions before Portuguese explorers seeking a sea route to the East introduced maize from South America, specifically Mexico where grain was first cultivated more than 7 000 years ago.

It is known that the advent of maize on the African continent shoved into the shade traditional food grains that had sustained Africans for centuries with, in Zimbabwe’s case, finger millet/uphoko/rukweza, sorghum/mapfunde/amabele and pearl millet/inyawuthi/mhunga being reduced to virtual Cinderella’s in some areas as rural folk went for the new bride, maize, attractive in its white gown that fetched a higher price on the market than did the drought-resistant traditional crops with villagers desperately in need of cash in a spree for maize even in areas not suitable for is growth while small grains were now only grown for beer brewing.

With devolution now underway it appears incumbent on the Government to encourage and promote the growing of small grains on a large scale, especially in drought-prone districts that perennially experience scarce rainfall with maize holding firm in areas suitable for continued, large scale production where colonialism especially established an appetite for white grain to export to earn much needed foreign currency.

The scientist-cum-writer said dams being constructed around the country as well as irrigation schemes should augur well for large scale cultivation of small grains the seeds of which were easier to preserve at home while urban market dealers in chemically treated seed maize made fortunes out of its sales.

Of course, it is also known that villagers are reluctant to grow some small grains, especially pearl millet by fear of quelea birds that lay siege in swarms with farmers having to spend extra time guarding their crops.

But surely harvesting the birds for their tongue-tingling taste, especially when prepared in peanut butter, would earn farmers huge returns from sales particularly in urban areas where meat is very expensive.

Thus, if the various small grains mentioned above shoulder other crops grown under Command Agriculture, for instance, Zimbabwe might once again wake up one morning as THE BREAD BASKET for Southern and other African states that now rely on very, very expensive food imports.