Small grains deliver big returns in Zimbabwe
Smallholder farmers are racing against time to combat the ongoing southern Africa climate crisis
Tatenda Macheka
Drought is the most prevalent climate-related hazard in Zimbabwe. Its frequent occurrence has had significant consequences on access, livelihoods, and food security. In the last decade, dry spells have increased in frequency, intensity, impacting negatively on people and food production.
For as many years as Yarutso remembers, her family has been growing maize and harvests have been good. Surplus food was sold at market and stock-feed was readily available. Although this mother of four is passionate about producing her own food, she is repeatedly having to manage to feed her children from failed harvests.
Over the past ten years, things have changed and all for the worse. Maize now grows well at the beginning of the season, but struggles and wilts as the season progresses because of heat waves and rainfall patterns that have become unpredictable.
“Times are hard, when we were young we used to have good harvests, but not anymore because sometimes it is too hot and sometimes it floods and the strange weather has brought pests that multiply fast, even though I use pesticides,” sexplained a weary Yarutso. “Back in the day we had problems but access to food was never one of them.”
In Zimbabwe, the World Food Programme (WFP) supports more than 63, 000 smallholder farmers by delivering solutions that allows them to grow food, even in during the driest of seasons, such as better farming methods, moisture conservation, drought resistant crop varieties, early warning system mechanisims and pest control.
“For me, if I don’t harvest it means I don’t have food and I don’t have income to buy food, I will be like a candle burning from both ends,” says Yarutso.
Farmers are taught how to grow drought-tolerant small grains. Knowledge is shared on ways to improve preserving moisture in soil during dry spells such as mulching, preferred ways of weeding, harvesting and storage. The idea is for smallholder farmers to grow nutritious high-quality grains that can provide a consistent source of food, as they sell competitively in local markets.
In the Mwenezi community, Maybewell, a mother of three small children has benefitted by taking part in the small grains programme. Her interest in learning new farming methods after continuous exposure to climatic shocks hightened her thirst to succeed in farming.
“We need to move away from the way we do farming, or else hunger will always be a permanent visitor in our homes,” says Maybewell.
Every day, Maybewell listens to the weather report on her radio and keeps in regular contact with the local ministry of agriculture workers at village level to ensure she is kept up to date on market prices and farming trends.
“I am happy we managed to harvest enough grain, but my neighbours who planted maize didn’t harvest,” she says. “I am ready to learn new ideas as hunger is a complicated matter and so is the solution which is not easy so it needs all of us putting our heads together.”
Smallholder famers in Zimbabwe, account for over 90 percent of those working in the agrarian sector (the majority of whom are women). They work about 70 percent of the agricultural land and produce most of the staple foods in the country, especially maize.
“Some of the food we produced got spoilt because of poor ways of storage,” says Maybewell. “I have learnt how to better store my harvest.”
Subsistence agriculture is characterized by a lack of adequate and quality inputs, and a lack of technology such as irrigation schemes to supplement rainfall, especially during prolonged mid-season dry spells. As a result, most of the communal farmers are vulnerable and particularly prone to food insecurity when faced with the negative impacts of climate change.
While Maybewell is looking forward to the next planting season, Yarutso is still grapling with last year’s losses. “Maybe if I try small grains this coming season I will get something,” she says.
WFP, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and an arm of the government under the ministry of Agriculture and Rural development’s Agricultural Advisory Services (Agritex), supported more than 60,000 farmers across 30 districts in Zimbabwe in 2021. Approximately 6,000 metric tons of products such as sorghum seed, cow pea seed and fertiliser were distributed to smallholder farmers. Trainings on climate smart agriculture and post-harvest losses were also conducted to help minimise crop waste.
Since 2016, the yields of supported households produced an average of 30 per cent higher for sorghum and cow peas.
The small grains initiative is supported by India (India-UN Development Partnership Fund) and Germany (BMZ).
Facts about small grains
· Small grains in Zimbabwe are mainly sorghum, pearl and finger millet.
· They require relatively little rain, making them more drought resistant than conventional crops like maize.
· Small grains have a high nutrition value compared to other grains such as maize.
Read more about WFP’s work in Zimbabwe here
