The Sunday News
Ngonidzashe Chiutsi Farming Correspondent
THE poor 2014/2015 farming season is an example of how climate change is affecting the agriculture sector in Zimbabwe, climate experts have said.
Most of the crops in Zimbabwe have wilted due to moisture stress while some places experienced flooding due to excessive rainfall. About 350 000 cattle in Matabeleland South are reportedly facing a serious grazing shortage after erratic rainfall which is attributed to climate change.
Livestock in other regions like Masvingo also face a similar predicament.
Climate change is defined as a long-term shift in the climate of a specific location, region and planet.
It occurs when the climate of a specific area or planet is altered between two different periods of time.
In an interview, director for climate change in the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate Mr Washington Zhakata said effects of climate change were increasing and the country was now feeling them.
“The issue of climate change in Zimbabwe has escalated and this is being demonstrated by the rainfall patterns. You have noticed that the 2013/2014 season was marked by very serious flooding in the Tokwe-Mukosi area and quite a number of places including Harare witnessed some flash flooding,” said Mr Zhakata.
“The water required for crop production has not been evenly distributed across the country both in the last season and this season. This season had a lot of rainfall in January but since then, the rains have stopped especially in February and March,” he said.
“In the past years we had thunderstorms during the winter period which is an anomaly and we never recorded such in the past 20 or 30 years,” said the expert.
Principal director in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Mr Joseph Gondo told Sunday Business that due to climate change, Zimbabwe was facing serious drought and flooding.
“This year has been a classic example of how climate change is affecting the rainfall patterns in the country. We had a delayed onset of the rain. There has been a shift in the season and at the same time the seasons have become shorter and the total amount of rainfall received during the course of the year has become reduced. We have now more extreme weather events, floods and droughts and those are the challenges associated with climate change,” said Mr Gondo.
Because of the erratic rains believed to be a result of climate change, many farming activities have been affected.
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board Zimbabwe said tobacco output was likely to go down to between 183 million and 194 million kilogrammes of Virginia tobacco from 216 million kilogrammes last year a result of the unfavourable rainfall pattern that affected the crop.
Farmers were also targeting to produce 1,85 million tonnes of maize, up from the 1,4 million tonnes for 2013-2014 but the figure was likely to go down drastically. Mr Gondo said there was a need to employ mitigatory measures and counter the effects of climate change.
“The farmers should cope or adapt to climate change and adopt practices that will help them to achieve a harvest under difficult climatic conditions,” he said.
The expert said there were many interventions that the farmers could adopt to cope with climate change.
“We are promoting drought tolerant crops. Farmers should practise water conservation and management methods so that whatever little moisture is there is conserved. On the livestock side, farmers should breed the indigenous breeds that are very much adaptable to the harsh climate conditions than these exotic breeds,” said Mr Gondo.
He added that farmers should practise climate-smart agriculture, an agricultural practice that addresses climate change through reducing emissions.
“Smart agriculture addresses three challenges which are increasing productivity sustainably, building resilience to climate change and at the same time reducing emissions,” he said adding that agro forestry could be one such example of smart agriculture intervention.
Mr Zhakata said the Government had come up with a strategy to mitigate climate change.
“The Government has come up with a national climate change response strategy which is the first related document on climate change to guide climate change adaptation and mitigation,” said Mr Zhakata.
Speaking during a stakeholder sensitisation and inception workshop on Zimbabwe’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions in Bulawayo last week, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate Mr Prince Mupazviriho bemoaned that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases continued to accumulate in the atmosphere causing climate change.
“It is imperative that we don’t underestimate the impact this could have to the atmosphere and the environment. The increasing global temperatures, frequency of floods and droughts, rainfall variability and cyclones are associated with undesirable climate change impacts. We therefore all now have to face up to these consequences,” he said in a speech read on his behalf by acting deputy director in the Climate Change Department Ms Veronica Gundu.
Mr Mupazviriho said his ministry was working flat out to ensure the country had a safe environment.
“Globally, in response to the threat of climate change, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit. The UNFCCC called for voluntary cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by industrialised countries,” he said.
“However, as it was later realised that voluntary emissions cuts were not good enough as defaulters always exist, hence the negotiation and adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The Kyoto Protocol specified legally binding commitments by most industrialised countries to reduce their collective greenhouse gas emissions by at least five percent below their 1990 levels during the period 2008-2012,” said the permanent secretary.
He called for the use of renewable energies such as hydro-power, solar, wind and other related environmentally sound projects which promote socio-economic development and also provide an opportunity for climate mitigation in the country.
