Drought spells disaster for smaller farmers

Prolonged dry spells in Zambia have led maize and other crops to wither ahead of the 2023/24 harvesting season in many parts of the country. Eastern Province, Southern Province and Central Lusaka province are among the areas grappling with adverse climatic conditions due to the El Niño phenomenon. This has led to below-average rainfall in many of the 116 districts of the country.

As farmers in these districts mainly farmed on dryland, many were concerned about the lack of rainfall, and were now calling for investment in irrigation to save the more than three million smallholder farmers that had been affected by the dry spells.

The drought experienced in many parts of the country has also raised fears of food insecurity.

Frank Kayula, chairperson for the National Association for Smallholder Farmers, said the association was concerned that most of these smallholder farmers could lose their crops entirely due to the drought.

“We were hard hit by the drought that has affected most of the farmers, who opted to grow maize this year in addition to other crops because their crops are now wilting.

“We are hoping they will be compensated if it does not rain in the next few days or weeks,” he said. Agricultural scientist Edify Hamukale was concerned at the escalating levels of dry spells in most parts of the country, which was mostly dependent on dryland-agricultural practices and lacked sustainable irrigation policies to substitute the lack of rainfall in times of need.

“We see hunger lying ahead if the situation does not normalise because much of the country is experiencing dry spells, with [the outlook for] rain seemingly unpromising.”

He appealed to farmers and households to avoid weeding to capture the little moisture left in the soil.

The Zambia Meteorological Department predicted that the country was likely to experience reduced rainfall in the 2023/24 rainy season, and that there would be below-average rainfall until April or May. It urged farmers to look at alternative means of irrigating their crops to avoid crop losses.

In response to the drought, the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) was mobilising experts in agriculture, weather forecasting and disaster management to ascertain the impact of the prolonged dry spells on maize and other crops across the country.

Likezo Musobani, assistant director of Prevention and Mitigation at the DMMU, who led a team to evaluate the situation in Eastern Province near Malawi, found that seven out of every 10 maize fields visited had experienced significant withering and stress.

Peter Zulu, acting chief agricultural economist in the Ministry of Agriculture, who accompanied the assessment team in Eastern Province, said maize crops at the tasseling stage, poised to begin pollination, had been severely affected by the dry spell, leaving little hope for a meaningful yields.

Despite this, Zambia’s Ministry of Agriculture assured the country of food security, due to a programme implemented by the Zambian government last year. This programme involved the planting of maize in some regions by commercial farmers under irrigation in October.

Acting permanent secretary Chizumba Shepande said: “When the rain started, we stopped irrigating and now with this drought, we have resumed irrigation. As such, we expect [sufficient yields of] maize, which assures us that we are still food secure.” –

FARMERS URGED TO LOOK AT ALTERNATIVE MEANS OF IRRIGATING THEIR CROPS TO AVOID DAMAGE