George Chisoko Opinion
It has been said ad infinitum that agriculture is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s economy. When agriculture catches a cold, the whole economy sneezes. It supplies other sectors with the much-needed raw materials and its failure to thrive, owing to a number of factors, impacts negatively on the performance of the economy.

This is why the recent prediction by the Southern African Regional Climate Forum (SARCOF) that Zimbabwe is among Sadc countries that will receive normal to below normal rainfall in the 2015/2016 season has sent shivers down the spines of farmers and industry for their performance is a function of good rainfall.

The forecast by SARCOF, which our own Meteorological Services Department has confirmed, should stimulate the farmers to seriously consider moving away from depending on rain-fed agriculture. Over the last couple of years, rainfall amounts have become lesser and lesser and highly erratic as climate change, so often talked about elsewhere, has become a real menace to agriculture.

Climate experts define climate change, otherwise known as global warming, as the rise in average surface temperatures on earth. It is caused mainly by the release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the air resulting in adverse weather events and droughts.

Climate change is a phenomenon that we should learn to live with for as long as human activities, such as agriculture and deforestation, are practised. These contribute to greenhouse gases that cause climate change, which in turn causes drought and other adverse weather conditions. There is not much that farmers can do about climate change except to come up with mitigatory measures.

When a country is hit by drought, the soft target that farmers blame for their crop failure is the government for not doing much in terms of rehabilitating irrigation infrastructure on farms and not coming up with irrigation support schemes modelled along the lines of the crop inputs scheme that benefited thousands of farmers some decades or so ago.

A nation that prides itself on dependence on rain-fed agriculture on the back of climate change is doomed. Irrigation should be the buzzword and all efforts should be galvanised towards ensuring that farmers are connected to irrigation. This, however, should not be left to the government alone but the farmers themselves need to be organised to ensure the irrigation infrastructure on their farms is rehabilitated for their benefit.

While the output that comes from farming benefits the nation by way of replenishing Strategic Grain Reserves to ensure food security, it cannot be argued that farmers make a lot of money from agriculture and it is thus incumbent upon them to mobilise resources and set up irrigation on their farms than wait for the government, already burdened with other national commitments.

Most farms have underground irrigation infrastructure and it would not cost much for farmers to restore it to good working condition. Some farmers only need the irrigation pump and motor while others need the pipes and sprinklers, which again should not be heavy on their pockets given that they have been “serious farmers” for the last couple of decades.

Farmers need to take the lead and fight the dependency syndrome. Farming is a business and anyone in business should always strive to find ways of navigating out of their predicament. Irrigation will not only help farmers contribute to the Gross Domestic Product but will also assist them to make money and transform their standard of living.

There is nothing wrong with farmers buying luxury cars from the proceeds of their toil at the farm but it becomes a problem when they do not invest in farming. Investing in irrigation is a sure way of making more money in the future.

The most pertinent question farmers should ask themselves when making the decision to buy luxurious cars or to invest in irrigation is how much money the car will make for them every day and how much money will investment in irrigation bring to them in future?

Obviously, investing in irrigation would, without any doubt, bring more riches to the farmers considering the erratic rainfall that we have been receiving in recent years.

Irrigation does not only empower farmers to mitigate against drought but allows them to grow crops three times within a season and that means more money in their pockets. Yes, the government has to play a part since farming is a food security matter but that should not make farmers rest on their laurels.

Farmers associations have also been found wanting in that they are known for demanding inputs from the government and high commodity prices instead of working with irrigation equipment suppliers and other companies that use crops as their raw materials to go into partnerships to develop irrigation the farmer.

So many companies depend on agriculture for raw materials and it would make sense for farmers associations to venture into partnerships with the firms to rehabilitate irrigation infrastructure or set up new irrigation on farms where there is none, with farmers repaying through a stop-order system upon delivery of the produce. The farmers association or the government can then act as the guarantor.

This will also ensure that the firms are assured of a constant supply of raw materials whether there is drought or not. The same can be extended to irrigation equipment suppliers who would also run a scheme to connect farmers to irrigation and get payment through a stop-order system with selected companies the farmers sell their produce to.

It, however, calls for honesty on the part of farmers to make sure they meet their financial obligations. While on paper this appears an easy task, we admit it takes a meeting of the minds to get such partnerships running.

But most importantly, farmers can ignore the threat posed by climate change at their own peril. The danger to agriculture is real. It ceases to be just a government concern but a matter of survival and livelihood for farmers which should push them hard to seek ways of embracing irrigation, not as a matter of choice but necessity given the adverse weather events.

Farmers at their own level, pushed by the desire to contribute to food security and at the same time an increasing desire to make money, should invest heavily in irrigation.

Whatever resources accruing to them from the sale of output from the previous seasons, should be channelled towards irrigation development and where they fall short in financial capacity, they can always turn to the government for help. Otherwise, irrigation development begins with the farmer and those who have made farming a business know that sacrifices must be made to enjoy in the future. Indeed, to move from the current state to a new desired future, investments must be made now.

It would be amiss not to commend the government for prioritising irrigation development, although a lot still needs to be done. Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made has been at the forefront promoting irrigation development in the full realisation that gone were the times when we depended on rain-fed agriculture.