Take part in environmental management issues, stakeholders challenged
AGRICULTURE stakeholders have been called to embrace smart agriculture practices to cushion farmers against the effects of climate change ahead of the 2019-2020 farming season.
Smart agriculture is a cocktail of new ways that help to guide actions required to modify and reorient agricultural systems to effectively support the development and guarantee food security in the face of changing climate.
In a presentation during the Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) congress in Masvingo at the weekend, seed company Sygenta Zimbabwe representative Mr Tawanda Mangisi said agricultural stakeholders needed to take heed of smart agriculture practices to ensure food security in the face of climate change.
“As a seed manufacturing company, we are calling on stakeholders to accelerate the modernisation of our agriculture and gear towards transforming the sector through broadening access to agricultural inputs, promoting production and productivity, growing of new seed varieties, enhancing extension services and infrastructure. This all being aimed to counter this scourge of climate change and foster national food security,” he said.
Mr Mangisi said as part of smart agriculture, farmers are called to plant seeds designed to withstand drought conditions, extreme heat or cold to maximise production and ensure national food security.
“As Sygenta, we are encouraging farmers to grow hybrid, drought-tolerant seeds for a better market and yields. Farming is a business, so farmers should not just grow crops for the sake of it.
“They should make a profit. So, for them to make a profit they should have knowledge of crop management,” said Mr Mangisi.
He said Sygenta was stocking adequate drought-tolerant hybrid maize seeds for farmers as they represent a new shift in farming opportunities.
Drought-tolerant seeds have capacity to improve yields in the face of challenges presented by climate change in the region such as recurring droughts.
ZFU executive director Mr Paul Zakariya said smart agriculture was the way to go.
“Smart agriculture through adoption of new farming methods and technologies is the way to go in face of this climate change being experienced in contemporary times,” he said.
Prolonged dry spells experienced in the 2018/2019 season caused a significant decline in national agriculture production compared to the 2017/2018 season, threatening national food security and the livelihoods of many rural families.
Since the turn of the year, Government has lined up a number of programmes and projects that are funded in support of the Smart Agriculture initiative, chief among them knowledge empowerment on tackling climate change and its effects. GOVERNMENT has challenged stakeholders in the public and private sectors to take part in environmental management and conservation issues to safeguard human lives as well as attain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The challenge was made by secretary in the Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Ministry Mr Munesuishe Munodawafa in a speech read on his behalf by the director of policy and research in the ministry, Dr Douglas Runyowa, during a sensitisation workshop of the Invasive Alien Species (Vernonanthura polyanthes) that have been noted in Manicaland Province.
The invasive alien species are plants that cause irreversible ecological changes, major economic damage and significant impact on public health as they destroy indigenous vegetation.
“We support economic development and community empowerment, but this must be done in a more sustainable manner that safeguards the protection of our environment.
“We are mandated through the Environmental Management Act to regulate, monitor and promote sustainable management and the protection of the environment with stakeholder participation.
“This platform serves to help us to sensitise each other and share ideas on how best we can manage our environment with a focus on the Eastern Highlands,” he said.
Mr Munodawafa said the workshop’s main objective was to embrace the need for concerted efforts, actions and commitments in environmental management.
“The citizens should be accorded their rights to clean, safe and healthy environment as enshrined in the Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20:27). This workshop is, therefore, to map way forward in ensuring the protection of the environment and sustainable development.
“Over the years, we have witnessed a sharp increase in the exploitation of natural resources, resulting in a whole lot of environmental challenges like deforestation, veld fires, illegal mining activities, water pollution and illegal waste disposal surfacing,” Mr Munodawafa has said.
He urged environmental stakeholders to fight the challenges faced in Manicaland due to the potentially invasive alien species.
“I do hope that this workshop will help to bring together ideas, and strategies to deal with the environmental challenges we are faced with the Vernonanthura polyanthes plant.
Researches have been conducted and some are ongoing on the Vernonanthura polyanthes plant’s growth habits, establishment in the ecosystem and socio-economic impacts.
Vernonanthura polyanthes is a shrub or small tree, which has become a serious invader of areas in Manicaland such as lower Vumba, Chimanimani and Chipinge up to Honde Valley.
The plant was introduced in as a nectar plant for bees, possibly in the early 1990s in Mozambique.
It is reported to have started emerging in Manicaland Province following Cyclone Eline and has been spreading ever since.