Govt banks on farmers’ resilience to mitigate drought impact

IN the wake of the El Niño-induced drought that has severely impacted agricultural production, Government is now banking on farmers who adopted climate-proofed farming techniques, embraced traditional grains and irrigation to salvage yields that boost food security.

This comes on the backdrop of the current season characterised by unstable weather patterns that were revised countless times making planning difficult.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development permanent secretary Professor Obert Jiri recently encouraged farmers to embrace Pfumvudza/Intwasa techniques to enhance resilience to climatic shocks and also urged them to adopt irrigation.

“We are now dependent on farmers who implemented Pfumvudza/Intwasa, transitioned to traditional grains and embraced irrigation. Those who disregarded the advice recorded complete crop failure,” said Prof Jiri.

Delayed commencement of the rains for the current season pushed the Government to advocate for the production of traditional grains which are known to be far more drought-tolerant than maize.

“It is not advisable for you to grow maize, unless that is done under irrigation where a consistent water supply is guaranteed. If you want sadza prepared using maize, you can go to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and exchange your grains with maize. As such, seed companies should strive to supply our shops with varieties of seeds of traditional grains. Agro-dealers must not put in their stock seeds of crops that do not do well in this district,” said Prof Jiri.

According to the final crop, livestock and fisheries assessment report (Pre- harvesting) CLAFA 1 there was minimum rainfall recorded across the country.