Good agricultural practices critical in protecting water

One undeniable fact is that the country is going through a very severe drought. The drought which resulted from El Nino saw the country having a poor 2015⁄16 rainy season leading to depressed dam levels, deaths of livestock, crop losses and in some instances the totally drying up of water bodies such as rivers and small dams.

AND now that the farming season is upon us once again, there is great need for farmers near water bodies to practice good farming methods. Good agricultural practices help in the protection of water bodies. Over the years, ZINWA and other utilities charged with the protection of the environment have witnessed a rise in poor agricultural practices that led to the compromising of water bodies’ ability to hold and retain water in line with their design or natural capacities. Due to poor practices such as stream bank cultivation, many rivers are now silted. The same applies to small dams on farms or in communal lands.

These dams and rivers are a source of life for people and animals and need to be protected. When people practice stream bank cultivation, a lot of loose soil finds its way into the rivers and dams when it rains. Despite the drought, many water bodies across the country dried earlier than normal because of heavy silting resulting from poor agricultural practices.

In areas where tobacco farming practiced, a number of forests have been destroyed as farmers cut down trees for purposes of curing their crop. The deforestation also exposes the soil to rains and when the rains fall, the loose soil is also washed into the rivers and other water bodies. The same is true for areas where overgrazing is also taking place. Apart from seriously reducing the capacity of water bodies, there is also a great danger of compromising the quality of the water since the soil washed from the fields is usually laden with the residue of the various chemicals used in the fields. This therefore means that poor agricultural practices have also played a very significant role in the current water stress. When the rivers and dams get silted, ZINWA, being the Government’s lead agency in water resources management, ends up engaging in very expensive desilting exercises which requires millions of dollars to be implemented. Such expensive exercises will be carried at the expense of other equally important endeavours such as the construction of new water infrastructure or the expansion of existing ones.

Farmers should therefore strive to ensure that their activities do not adversely affect water availability. Instead they should ensure that their fields are far from river banks. They can also help by planting trees and grass on the banks of the rivers in their farms to help minimise soil erosion that eventually lead to silting of rivers.

The country has not yet recovered from the effects of the current drought as the dam levels are still to improve.

Some cities are also still battling to stretch the limited available water further through water demand management strategies while ZINWA is still in the midst of implementing drought mitigation strategies in many places across the country. Under these circumstances, everyone should play his or her role in mitigating the situation. In the homes, fields and industries, ZINWA continues to implore users to use water efficiently. This is a responsibility we cannot run away from. When we work together, we tend to achieve more.

◆ For more information please contact the ZINWA Corporate Communications and Marketing Department on pr@zinwa.co.zw or contact our Call Centre on callcentre@zinwa.co.zw. You can also visit www.zinwa.co.zw or like the Zimbabwe National Water Authority Facebook Page.