Erratic rains: slide back to food assistance
Hopes for a promising cereal harvest this year have begun to fade for Albert Mafu of Lavumisa, seeing that the rains have stopped falling. The overly talked about Jozini Dam project that was to provide water to Lavumisa and surrounding areas for farming processes seems to have also suddenly evaporated. This means the Mafu family and other residents must begin to re-live the horrors of depending on food aid yet they are able bodied with fertile soil and ready to till the land. responsible The erratic rains are responsible for the sudden downturn where there were otherwise high hopes for fresh and healthy diet and above all for food security in the area. But apart from the erratic rains Mafu and his folk have other challenges such as the uslide bearingse of archaic agricultural methods. The ox pulled plough was discarded for the tractor drawn one from as early as the days when cotton farming made sense and that was in the seventies.
The average subsistence farmer can hardly afford the cost of hiring a tractor to till as much as a hectare and the ones provided by government were never sufficient. As a result most of the farmers planted late just in time when the rains began to disappear. Even those who managed to plough early, it is certain, will have zero harvest. Other locals however still hope that if it could rain sufficiently now and the rains spread out evenly over a month probably something could be scrapped from the fields but for the majority this is only mere hope. Experience from the past proved that changes in climate have caused them not to rely even on experts from the agriculture ministry who advise them to plant early yet the rains or water supply cannot be guaranteed. Already by November last year 80 000 needed food aid even though the free food distribution programme was dropped by government for a food for work alternative. The present food distribution is for targeted groups and not everyone.
These groups were carefully selected to include those on anti retroviral treatment. According to the Research Journal of Environmental and Earth Sciences in articles authored by A.M. Manyatsi, N. Mhazo and M.T. Masarirambi, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, University of Swaziland on climate variability and change as perceived by rural Plastic bearingcommunities in Swaziland, noted that the reported signs of climate variability included late rains, low rains, drought and famine. The effects of climate variability felt by community members included failure of crops, death of livestock and low crop yields. The majority of the community members did not provide any scientifically proven causes of climate variability. The causes cited included that of community not keeping Swazi customs, supernatural powers and that of being an act of God. Community members did not have adequate information on climate variability and change. accessible The limited information accessible to many communities was through the local radio in the form of daily weather forecast.
The information was found to lack details and of a very short term nature. The feelings of the community members were that weather forecast should provide medium to long-term information. The weather prediction focused on major towns, and was of less relevance to many rural communities. Communities suggested an effective early warning system to operate at constituency level. They specified need for weather stations at community levels in order for them to monitor and record weather data. The researchers further noted that climate variability is evident in Swaziland, as it manifests itself in hydrological disasters, change in rainfall regime as well as extreme weather conditions. The most severe ones occurred in 1983, 1992, 2001, 2007 and 2008.
It was reported that over 500 people lost their lives due to the drought of 1983. During that time the government was ill prepared, and there was no formal structure to coordinate emergencies. sufficient food In 2007, close to 50% of the population needed food aid, as they did not have sufficient food due to failure of their crops. The effect of drought is usually very severe on cattle; in 1992, about 90 000 died in the country (20% of the total herd). According to the 2004/05 crop and food supply assessment, jointly conducted by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation and the United Nations World Food Programme, production of the country’s staple food, maize, was on a long-term decline, dropping by 70% over a period of five years in some areas. This was due to the fact that much of the arable land was not cultivated because of delayed rains, high risk of making a loss from agriculture and shortage of seeds for alternative crops among others. The researchers further noted that climate change and variability are perhaps the most critical environmental challenges confronting the world in the 21st century, how ever crucial information pertaining to perceptions of climate change and variability by the masses is lacking.
They suggested that successful implementation of mitigation strategies has a strong bearing on the changes in behaviour of the people whose individual choices may have huge collective impacts at global scale. There is, however, limited in-depth understanding of the perceptions of the public to climate change and variability. The knowledge and perceptions of communities about climate change and climate variability will influence the way they would respond to mitigation initiatives and climate policies. This study was necessitated by the need to know perceptions of climate change and variability by the masses so as to create a data base for among other things policy formulation in order to successfully mitigate negative impacts due to climate phenomena. T.O. research Oseni and M.T. Masarirambi, in their research paper on effect of climate change on maize (Zea mays) production and food security in Swaziland, in another edition of the same journal, noted that almost 80% of the Swazi population is rural-based with livelihoods predominantly dependent on subsistence farming and/or livestock rearing. Over the past years, multiple interrelated factors such as small fragmented land holdings and minimal access to agricultural inputs, reduced employment opportunities, market inefficiencies and high HIV and AIDS prevalence have contributed to chronic food insecurity and gradually weakening livelihoods.
They said crop management and mitigation measures for climate variability should include a range of possible strategies such as (1) adjusting the cropping calendar to synchronize crop planting and the growing period with soil moisture availability based on seasonal climate/ rainfall forecast, (2) changing the maize variety to plant (i.e., planting a drought-tolerant or early-maturing variety or the use of genetically modified (GM) maize, where acceptable), (3) diversification from traditional maize crops to other types of crops such as millet, sorghum, acha (fonio) which can withstand drought and higher temperatures, (4) optimizing water-use efficiency by improving irrigation facilities, bringing more agricultural land under irrigation for maize production and introducing water-saving techniques as used in sugarcane production, (5) allocation of adequate funding to the National Meteorological Department to procure latest equipment and build capacity in climate data collection, storage, analysis and forecasting. (researchers’ citations from the Research Journal of Environmental and Earth Sciences)