The Sunday News
Vincent Gono, Features Editor
THE global discussive discourse from 2019 has been about a mutating pandemic that will obviously go down into the annals of history as having decimated the world population with merciless viciousness.
It brought with it and popularised four catch phrases – sanitise, mask up, social distance and later get vaccinated and with them the world has somehow managed to restrain and arrest Covid-19’s effects on human life and global economies.
But just as the world was turning the corner of a historical health epoch that threatened human existence, another history making period was hatching.
Already the global focus is no longer so much with Covid-19.
The Russia-Ukraine war has taken over and is pulling the world assunder and dividing global opinion with accusations and counter accusations flying thick and fast especially in various social media streets courtesy of technology that has enhanced the public space for the convening of the public sphere according to a theory by Jurgen Habermas.
This is however, not to say Covid-19 is no longer a threat, it is, and people should be careful not to be caught napping by its mutating variants.
Away from the global catastrophic events that netizens are spending time and resources discussing, locally, a threatening drought whose effects are likely to be seismic is brewing but it has been overtaken by global happenings maybe as a confirmation of Marshal McLuhan’s global village concept.
Part of the country’s farming communities have been caught in a dry spell and the losses are difficult to imagine and so is the future without food.
The season that started off with projections of high yields and average to above average rainfall predictions turned menacingly dry in February as the sun rose each day with a vengeance – licking every drop of moisture with an unrestrained glee and giving nothing in return.
The gaiety that women used to carry with them as they woke up every day to communicate in a secret language with the nourished earth as the weed their crops withered in like manner with their crops at the monotonous glare of the sun.
And now the tales of hope have in some seriously affected communities in the southern parts of the country turned into one big yawn of hopelessness as the once lush green crops have turned brown as if they have been brought too close to a fire.
Save for a few patches, Masvingo, Midlands, Matabeleland North and South provinces have almost the same story to tell – that they are looking into the face of a grim drought which experts say is a result of climate change.
“We laboured hard in the fields and everything was pointing to a fruitful cropping season but all hope has been lost.
Even if it rains the Noah rains today, we are no longer going to salvage much from the fields.
The situation is just as you can see – hopeless,” said Ms Tracy Moyo of Pumula whose crop was caught up in the dry spell at tasselling stage.
Ms Moyo said she had benefitted from the Presidential Input Scheme where she got a 5 kg seed pack and fertilisers.
She said unlike last year where they had very good harvests, this year proved to be different as the crops were caught up in the prolonged dry spell that characterised much of February.
“The traditional cycle dictates that January is the dry month but things seem to be changing.
We are in very unpredictable times and we think it’s the scientifically defined climate change phenomenon that is affecting us,” she said.
Another farmer, Mr Madla Mpofu in the Siphezini area on the outskirts of Bulawayo concurred with Ms Moyo saying they were faced with a serious drought as their situation had been turned from that of hope to a catastrophic one.
“Drought years are the most painful ones.
We had hoped that our economic situation was going to be made better by enough food when people harvest but now, we are hopeless.
The situation in the fields is bad.
If someone is to smoke cigarettes close to some of the fields, the crops may catch fire – that is the level of hopelessness we are facing as farmers.
All we can do is to harvest the stalks and make cattle feed in preparation for the drought, maybe we can salvage our livestock,” said Mr Mpofu.
Deputy director Climate Change in the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Mr Kudzai Ndidzano said such weather phenomenon as was obtaining in most parts of the country was widely associated with climate change, which had altered the onset and cessation of the rainfall season, as well as the occurrence of mid-season dry spells.
“All these factors affect planning for the agricultural season especially for the farmers who solely rely on rainfed crop production systems.
This calls for farmers to be proactive and adopt recommended agricultural practices that harvest rainwater and conserve soil moisture through practices like mulching, traditional grains and minimum tillage as practiced through Pfumvudza/Intwasa,” said deputy director Mr Ndidzano.
The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted the increase in heatwaves, droughts and floods saying these were already exceeding plants and animals’ tolerance thresholds, driving mass mortalities in species such as trees and corals.
“These weather extremes are occurring simultaneously, causing cascading impacts that are increasingly difficult to manage.
They have exposed millions of people to acute food and water insecurity, especially in Africa.
To avoid mounting loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure, ambitious, accelerated action is required to adapt to climate change, at the same time as making rapid, deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
So far, progress on adaptation is uneven and there are increasing gaps between action taken and what is needed to deal with the increasing risks,” the new IPCC report finds.
It has further been noted by scientists that climate change interacts with global trends such as unsustainable use of natural resources, growing urbanisation, social inequalities, losses and damages from extreme events and a pandemic, jeopardizing future development.
“Our assessment clearly shows that tackling all these different challenges involves everyone – governments, the private sector, civil society – working together to prioritize risk reduction, as well as equity and justice, in decision-making and investment.
In this way, different interests, values and world views can be reconciled.
By bringing together scientific and technological know-how as well as indigenous and local knowledge, solutions will be more effective.
Failure to achieve climate resilient and sustainable development will result in a sub-optimal future for people and nature,” according to the PCC report.
