Zimbabwe News Update
newziana
2 min read
Harare, (new ziana) – elphas chinyanga stands in his field in shamva district, northern zimbabwe, surrounded by the lush green maize he once thought impossible to grow.Just a few years ago, he was following the same traditional farming practices his ancestors used — slashing, burning, and clearing land to grow crops.Lead farmer elphas chinyanga inspects his conservation agriculture demonstration plot in shamva district. Photo credit: peter lowe/cimmyt but as the soil eroded as a result, and demand for land increased, he realised he needed to change his farming methods to achieve good harvests.
Today, chinyanga represents a growing movement among smallholder farmers in zimbabwe who are embracing modern and sustainable agricultural practices to feed their families without compromising the environment. With a world population projected to reach nine billion by 2050, feeding it will be a daunting challenge requiring production of 70 per cent more food while environmentally safeguarding the planet. But as climate change exacerbates agricultural challenges, farmers face rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and dwindling soil fertility. The 2015-2016 and 2023-2024 el niño droughts starkly illustrated these issues, causing significant food insecurity and environmental devastation across southern africa.
In zimbabwe, with a population of 17 million people, and where agriculture remains a vital source of income and sustenance for this population, the situation is critical.According to the cgiar research programme on climate change, agriculture, and food security, the population in sub-saharan africa is expected to more than double by 2050, reaching 1.5 billion. This explosive growth demands urgent and innovative agricultural solutions.Sustainable agriculture advocates argue there is no one-size-fits-all approach to this crisis. Instead, a combination of techniques and technologies is essential.
Dr blessing mhlanga, a cropping systems agronomist with the sustainable agrifood systems programme at cimmyt, advocates for the need for integrated strategies that begin at the production stage and extend through to post-harvest practices. For farmers like chinyanga, the shift towards sustainable practices has proven beneficial. In the 2018-2019 cropping season, he harvested his best maize yield in a decade. “combining sustainable intensification practices with improved seed varieties has increased productivity by 30-40 percent, even under drought conditions,” chinyanga explains. Dr christian thierfelder, cimmyt’s principal cropping systems agronomist, highlights the necessity of sustainable intensification.
“in southern africa, conservation agriculture enables farmers to maintain and boost yields while protecting the environment,” he says. Source: newziana
