As El Niño wreaks havoc on Zimbabwe’s agriculture, maize fields are not just battling drought but are exhibiting signs of emotional distress, echoing the silent struggle faced by farmers. Hamond Motsi, a passionate advocate for sustainable agriculture and PhD student at Stellenbosch University, sheds light on the urgent need for climate-smart practices to salvage food security and livelihoods in the face of this looming crisis.
If humans can experience emotional states such as anxiety, depression, and stress, I believe that similarly, plants can anthropomorphize these emotional states. This is probably the current state of crops in Zimbabwe, especially maize.
As one passes through a random maize field in Zimbabwe, you can clearly see how the plants are struggling to cope with the conditions, with many of them withering and sagging under the relentless scorching sun and rain deficit.
It is possible that the situation is contagious, as farmers themselves are perhaps feeling the same emotional strain as their plants. The current state of the agriculture fields in Zimbabwe is a cause for concern, as it indicates a looming food crisis in the coming months.
The current state of agriculture in Zimbabwe has been adversely affected by the recent El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a natural cyclic climate phenomenon characterised by variations in surface ocean temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.
These variations trigger significant consequences on global weather patterns, particularly on rainfall and temperature. Despite differences in impacts and regional variations, the Southern Africa region, including Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, and Lesotho, is the most severely affected, followed by other regions such as Latin America and Southern Asia.
Drought’s silent symphony
As a cyclical phenomenon, El Niño is the warm phase, while La Niña is the cool phase of the ENSO, which recently concluded its phase during the preceding season. Currently, we are facing El Niño, which is caused by the rise in warm water in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, and as this warm water spreads, it increases atmospheric heat and generates warmer air. This will have a considerable effect on weather patterns with an increase in temperature and a decrease in rainfall resulting in drier and drought conditions.
The consequences of El Niño are severe and far-reaching, particularly for the agricultural sector in these most affected areas where household livelihoods are mainly anchored in agriculture. Agriculture is a weather-sensitive sector, and El Niño-related drought significantly compromises its perseverance resulting in heavy penalties on food security.
In fact, there are several El Niño-related droughts historically documented, such as during 1982-1984 in the Horn of Africa, 1991-1992 in Southern Africa, and 1991 to 1998 in Peru (Latin America). These droughts have become some of the worst in global history with a substantial impact on the food crisis.
This phenomenon not only leads to reduced crop yields due to drought conditions but also has a ripple effect on increasing pest and disease incidences, wildfires, and overall human health.
El Niño also exacerbates the spread of pests and diseases, leading to a devastating incidence of outbreaks resulting in yield decline.
For example, the fall armyworm, one of the catastrophic pests, has been on the rise during El Niño events, as scientific studies have shown. As climate change intensifies, higher temperatures create more favourable conditions for the sporulation and spread of pests and diseases.
Wildfires pose a significant threat to agricultural fields and can have a negative impact on human health. Additionally, human health can be affected directly through heat stress which will have adverse implications for labour availability in agriculture.
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Challenges in agricultural adaptation:
Apart from the direct effects of this climate change event, farmers, especially small-scale farmers, fail to adopt and adapt agronomical practices that could help them mitigate the damage.
These practices, which include conservation agriculture, multiple intercropping, modified planting dates, climate-resistant cultivars, and the use of organic materials, could significantly reduce the overall impact of climate change.
Seemingly, the Zimbabwe government introduced the “pfumbvudza/intwasa” programme, a customised conservation technique targeting smallholder farmers, but its adoption has been limited.
In recent years, Zimbabwe has made significant progress in its agriculture sector, based on its land reform dilemma in the early 2000s, particularly on maize, wheat, and tobacco production. The country achieved historical breakthroughs in wheat and tobacco production, reaching margins that had not been reached before.
Additionally, there has been a steady increase in maize production, reducing the country’s reliance on exports. Furthermore, there have been improvements in horticulture crops such as blueberries, which are currently fetching an attractive market globally.
Navigating the storm
Despite the successes in the agriculture sector, Zimbabwe is currently facing a catastrophic El Niño, which is likely to have severe consequences on food security. Last year, it was reported that by 10 December , only 95 156 hectares of land were planted with summer crops, a dramatic decline from the 465 707 hectares planted during the same period the previous year. However, there is currently no proper documentation of the current land area planted to understand the extent of the damage.
In conclusion, the current El Niño-induced climate change poses a fundamental crisis in Zimbabwean agriculture, threatening food security, livelihoods, and socio-economic stability.
To address these challenges, it is essential to encourage climate-smart agricultural habits, facilitate resilience-building methods, and reinforce adaptive capacity throughout the value chain.
Devoting to sustainable and wide-ranging approaches can help Zimbabwe mitigate the adverse effects of El Niño-induced climate change on its farming sector and accomplish its agriculture goals and targets in the looming climate change.
- Hamond Motsi is a PhD student at the faculty of agrisciences at Stellenbosch University, interested in sustainable agriculture and agricultural development in Africa. He holds an MSc in agronomy (cum laude) from Stellenbosch University, BSc Hons in crop science, and BSc in crop and soil science (cum laude), both from the University of Fort Hare. You can contact him at onehammond2@gmail.com.
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