By Johnson Siamachira
Harare, (New Ziana) – For 56-year-old Ranganai Shonhiwa, a smallholder farmer from Murewa district, in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland East province, maize is life.
This vital crop feeds her family, provides crucial income to send her children to school and pays medical expenses.
But the relentless march of climate change now threatens this life-giving staple food for Shonhiwa and millions of other Zimbabwean farmers.
There is, however, a glimmer of hope. New drought-resistant maize varieties, developed through decades of research, are offering Shonhiwa and other farmers hope of continued rewards and sustenance from maize.
These climate-smart seed varieties are helping them stay one step ahead of the intensifying droughts and erratic rainfall patterns fueled by global warming.
“It’s been very difficult to keep farming when the weather is unfriendly,” Shonhiwa laments, her weathered hands calloused from years of tending her fields. In recent years, severe droughts have scorched thousands of hectares of maize across Zimbabwe, pushing farming families like hers into poverty and hunger.
However, Shonhiwa is no longer worried about her maize crop, despite last year’s blistering heat and dry conditions. For the past several seasons, she has been growing a drought-tolerant hybrid that has proved to be her lifeline.
When Shonhiwa first sowed hybrid maize in 2016, she didn’t expect much. “We only had some little rain at the time of planting and during the vegetative state,” she recalls.
But to her surprise, the crop thrived, yielding 30 bags per hectare – double her previous harvests. “We have been working hard, and the harder we work, it gives us more hope that in the future maybe we can be better off,” Shonhiwa says, her face full of determination.
Getting these improved maize varieties into the hands of farmers like Shonhiwa is a product of more than two decades of research, involving a broad coalition of partners – from government and non-governmental organisations to seed dealers and farmers themselves.
Developed by CIMMYT with support from several partners, the drought-tolerant hybrids can yield up to 20 percent more than other popular varieties in Zimbabwe, according to Dr. Mainassara Zaman-Allah, CIMMYT’s Country Representative.
CIMMYT is an international non-governmental organisation focused on maize and wheat research.
The organisation has been working on drought-tolerant maize innovations, through close collaboration with a diverse range of partners, including national programmes.
This innovative work has evolved over the years from the early work under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) and Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) projects to later initiatives like Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA), culminating in the current Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG) project.
“If widely adopted, drought-tolerant maize, along with effective agronomic practices, could help Zimbabwean farmers cope with extended periods of drought, resulting in better yields, improved livelihoods and enhanced food security of millions of farmers,” Dr. Zaman-Allah says.
Benefits of these climate-smart crops are not lost on other Zimbabwean farmers. Martha Chivengwa, a 72-year-old from Murewa, has been reaping the rewards of her experiment with a drought-tolerant maize variety.
“Before testing the drought-tolerant variety, I used to get almost nothing from my fields. All the maize plants would shrivel in the heat. But when I tried the drought-tolerant variety, I harvested 50 kg of white maize,” Chivengwa says, her face alight with joy.
In Zimbabwe, CIMMYT remains committed to continuing developing and supporting partners in getting drought-tolerant maize into the hands of smallholder farmers.
Working in 19 districts across the country, the organisation is engaging farmers in on-farm trials and demonstrations, helping them adopt climate-smart practices.
The farmers are adopting climate-smart practices to help them maintain maize yields under increasingly hot and dry conditions in Zimbabwe, where the crop is grown using rainfall and with little or no mineral fertiliser, according to CIMMYT Principal Cropping Systems Agronomist, Dr Christian Thierfelder.
“Soil quality is improved by reduced tillage and by rotating or inter-cropping maize with ‘green manures,’ legumes that add nitrogen and organic matter to the system,” says Dr Thierfelder.
“Together with keeping crop residues on the field, these practices build healthier soils, conserve moisture, and allow crops to stand up to erratic weather.” The residue cover also suppresses weeds and the legume inter-crop provides more fodder for livestock, a critical source of income for many farmers.
For farmers like Shonhiwa and Chivengwa, these climate-resilient maize varieties are a lifeline in the face of Zimbabwe’s increasingly unpredictable weather patterns.
As the impacts of global warming intensify, their hardy crops are ensuring that the nation’s smallholders can continue to put food on the table and earn decent incomes.
“Whenever other farmers stop to admire my maize, I advise them to adopt this variety if they really want to change their lives,” Shonhiwa says, her voice tinged with pride. The tall, healthy stalks of her maize stand as a testament to the power of scientific innovation to transform and nurture the future of farming in Zimbabwe.
New Ziana
