Mulching and minimum tillage can save Buhera farmers

Lazarus Sauti

Farmers in Buhera North, a constituency with a population of more than 47 000 people, are facing serious drought challenges as the soil in their area is sandy and cannot hold moisture for a long time.

Climate change, a cancer ravaging not only Zimbabwe, but most states in southern Africa, is complicating the lives of villagers, who are also wretched by poverty.

Joice Mwanandimai, a maize and sorghum (mapfunde) farmer in Bepe area, blames sandy soils as well as poorly-distributed and below average rains for her predicament.

“The agriculture situation in this area is bad due to poor soils and low rainfall. Most crops which were planted early when the rains fell, for instance, are in a state of wilting, with little hope or no hope of recovering” she said.

Mwanandimai is not the only peasant farmer affected by climate change and low rainfall in Buhera North as Susan Mahwite, millet (mhunga), roundnuts (nyimo) and groundnuts (nzungu) farmer from Dorowa area is suffering the same fate.

“Our area, just like other places in the constituency such as Chimumvuri and Munyaya, is prone to droughts. This is so because our soil is sandy and cannot hold moisture for too long. This exposes our crops,” she said.

Councilor for Ward 12 in Bepe area, James Mhlanga, agrees that sandy soils and poor rainfall are twin evils affecting farming in his area.

“Our soils are now exhausted due to continuous tillage. They no longer hold moisture for long periods and this is seriously halting agriculture production here,” he said.

As climate change strengthens and drought is becoming more frequent and severe in Buhera North, experts believe farmers should prepare against climate variations by adjusting their farming practices if they are to enhance food security.

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Deputy Minister, Davis Marapira, says villagers need to consider moisture conserving techniques to fight climate change and salvage their crops.

“As most, if not all parts, of the country face what could be the worst drought in decades, it is of paramount importance that farmers contain the little moisture in the soil to save their crops as well as improve yields,” he said.

James Tembo, an agronomist, concurs.

“Farmers in areas like Buhera North and other dry areas must plant early maturing crops and seriously adopt mulching and minimum tillage if they are to escape hunger.

“They must mulch their crops two weeks after germination,” he advised.

Tembo added: “Minimum tillage and mulching will offer farmers, most of them resource poor, with reduced spending on equipment needed for conventional tillage.

“Since it is also friendly to the environment, conservation tillage offers villagers the chance to produce crops more intensively as well as sustainably.”

Zimbabwe Farmers Union economist, Prince Kuipa, adds that mulching and minimum tillage help farmers to adapt to external shocks such as climate change as the methods not only maintain soil fertility, but enhance the soil organic matter content.

“Mulching and minimum tillage are some of the significant avenues that should be utilised by farmers in sand and dry area if they are to improve the health of soil and increase crop production,” he said.

Mulching and minimum tillage, adds Kuipa, are effective tools that can be used in the fight against climate change since they help increase water absorption, reduce evaporation, erosion and compaction as well as safeguard moisture for crop development.

A 2012 survey of 750 farmers in South Dakota, United States, conducted by North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (American Research Unity), also supports that mulching and conservative tillage can improve crop yields.

The study, for instance, found that fields planted with cover crops were 11 to 14 percent more productive than conventional fields during years of drought.

As such, the United Nations agency, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recommends maintaining a protective organic cover on the soil, using crop residues and mulches, in order to protect the surface, reduce runoff and erosion, and suppress weeds.

Mulching and minimum tillage can save Buhera farmers from the harsh conditions of climate change, and the government should, therefore, play a leading role in encouraging farmers to embrace these sustainable and climate-friendly ways to produce food.

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