It’s definitely a drought year, what next?
Financial Gazette
9 January 2020
Peter Gambara
DESPITE getting assurances from our own Meteorological Services Office that we should expect a “normal to below normal” summer season, it is now clear that we are experiencing one of the worst drought seasons we have ever seen.
We last experienced such a drought around 1992. Most areas have not received any significant rains to date and crops throughout the country are heavily wilted, whilst a large number of farmers
have either failed to plant completely or have planted in anticipation of rains.
It’s normal to experience a wet Christmas and/or new year, but this season, it has been dry right up to the first week of January. This apparent drought brings about many questions and puts many people and livestock at risk. What then should fanners, central government, municipalities and councils and the general community do to manage this drought.
It is now clear that the planting window for maize has closed. Even the very early maturing maize varieties take 120 days to reach maturity and therefore a crop planted today would only mature in April.
Drought seasons are rather trick), the rains tend to stop early as well and therefore farmers should not risk planting now, unless they have access to irrigation water and the requisite infrastructure. Even for those farmers with the water and irrigation infrastructure, there is the added challenge of electricity availability. So, what should farmers do then?
It is important that farmers, especially rural households secure some bulk food that will last them until the next season. In that regard, it is important to consider growing other crops with short maturing periods like sorghum, pumpkins, sugar beans, cowpeas and watermelons. Farmers should target areas that still hold water to establish some of these crops as well as ensure that they can continue to irrigate them regularly. It is also encouraged to plant a variety of these crops; you never know which one will survive the drought better.
For those farmers with access to water, they should try to establish or run water efficient irrigation systems. Drip irrigation is one such system that conserves water and ensures water is placed right at the plant, where it is required. Just a half hectare or an acre of drip irrigation can achieve a lot.
This is not the time to run flood irrigation schemes. With this drought, leaf vegetables are going to be scarce and such schemes will prove critical in such periods. It costs approximately US$2 000/ hectare (US$800/acre) to establish a drip system, including all the drip lines, tank and connections. It’s worth trying, even on a very small-scale basis.
Assuming we are still going to get some rains during the remainder of the season, farmers are urged to manage their crops well. They should keep their fields as clean as possible from weeds, for weeds compete with the crops for the scarce available moisture. Secondly, farmers should always be on the alert and make sure they apply top dressing fertilizers to their crops as soon as they receive some rains.
It’s better to apply small amounts at a time, rather than wait to apply the top-dressing fertiliser in one go. That opportunity might never arise.
Therefore, farmers should split apply their top-dressing fertilisers to two to three times during the season.
Farmers (including urban households) are urged to adopt water harvesting and conservation techniques. Urban households as well as any households with asbestos/corrugated iron sheets/tiled roofs, can harvest water as it Ms and use it to irrigate their gardens. Leaf vegetables are soon going to be very scarce and expensive.
Those farmers with the necessary equipment should as much as possible create tied ridges in their lands, so that they can trap rain water as it falls. This is not the time to let water run away to the seas as it falls. Tied ridges can be made with ox-drawn ploughs (minus the plough dish) or using cultivators (also minus a few of the tines).
The furrows made by the plough or cultivator are tied at specific intervals, to make sure water does not run away from the field quickly as the rains fall. However, in the event that we do receive too much rain, the ties can be removed to ensure water drains away from the fields.
Let me now turn to the central government, municipalities and councils. It is not a secret that most urban areas have not had piped water the greater part of this past year and the water woes are continuing.
Most residents have to rely on good Samaritan neighbours who provide free water in those communities. Some boreholes have also been provided in some urban and rural areas. In view of the impending drought, what should be done about water use and conservation?
For a start, government should establish drought mitigatory committees ASAP, at national, provincial, district and ward levels. These committees will be tasked with identifying and mobilising resources to alleviate drought effects in their respective areas. Such actions include identifying areas needing boreholes, repairing broken down boreholes as well as putting in place rules and regulations on water use.
It will definitely be important to manage water availability to both humans and livestock and therefore communities will need to agree on livestock watering times, maximum quantities that families will be allowed to fetch from public watering places etc. For the record, an individual only requires 20-25 litres per day for both cooking and bathing. I have seen some households who bring in excess of 20 x 20 litre containers to watering points that is containers to watering points that is selfish and should be discouraged.
Secondly, communities should also be trained on how to run publicly funded boreholes as well as provide the necessary security where it is needed. Thieves have no respect nor mercy for suffering communities and they will still want to steal whatever they can salvage from the installed infrastructure and make a quick buck. The current high unemployment levels can drive some of the youths to be desperate to make a quick buck.
As indicated above, most urban households are surviving on good Samaritans who provide water to communities at their own expense. Government, through ZESA Holdings, should provide subsidies to such families, imagine what would be the situation today, if such individuals closed their water taps to the people in their communities. Municipalities have tended to fold their arms, while the water crisis worsens.
These municipalities and councils should allocate more resources to sinking more boreholes as well as to repair broken down boreholes. They should be reminded that it is their responsibility to provide water to residents, rather than individual families.
There has also been a tendency by some councils to think that families in low density areas can source their own water, that is incorrect, there are a lot of families in those communities who are in dire need of water and do not have the capacity to buy water, therefore municipalities and councils should balance the allocation of resources between all their areas.
Besides buying potable water is now very expensive, not to mention the cost of buying the necessary tanks to store the water.
The shortage of maize and mealie-meal is now real in most areas and government and councils should now start running supplementary feeding schemes in schools. This has been done before, and I am sure it a matter of availing the necessary resources to restart these schemes.
Livestock, especially cattle tend to be the most vulnerable in periods of drought However, cattle are critical in providing draft power to enable households to prepare their enable households to prepare their lands for cropping, as well as in providing meat, milk and manure.
Government, should therefore take an added interest in making sure cattle survive the drought. They can start State feedlots, assist with supplementary feeding schemes at dip tanks, provide water at these dip tanks as well as consider subsidising cattle maintenance blocks and stock feed.
Government, through the Department of Agritex, should encourage farmers to offload some of their cattle while it is still in good health. Government can provide an extra incentive for these farmers to offload their cattle by offering better prices through CSC’s rural market sales.
While the Meteorological Services told us to expect a normal to below normal season, the way the season has panned out places a lot of question marks on their ability to do their jobs. Questions arise as to whether they have the necessary equipment or it is now obsolete.
This week, a senior Met Office officer was on national television, telling the nation that they have not been able to provide weather forecasts for the past three weeks, because they do not have electricity.
This means the office does not have a back-up generator and one wonders how much it takes to provide one to such an important office. Someone is definitely sleeping on duty here.
It is essential that farmers, and the general public have access to early warning about impending droughts so that timely interventions can be put in place.
This is only possible where our Met Office has the necessary equipment and manpower to accurately predict the weather in advance. We hope the relevant office has taken note and will attend to this problem.
- Gambara is an agricultural economist and consultant He writes in his personal capacity