Zimbabwe farmers turn back to tradition as rainfall changes
AlertNet, 28 January 2012
ESIGODINI, ZIMBABWE: Whether rotating her crops, sowing seed from previous harvests or gathering rainwater, Susan Gama is pulling out all the stops in an attempt to keep her livelihood going. Subsistence farmers like Gama in this southern African nation are reverting to traditional farming knowledge and local experimentation to cope with the challenges of poor and unpredictable rainfall, which experts believe is linked to climate change. “We have always known that our grandparents kept seed from the previous harvest for planting in the new season, but … some people were instead advising us to buy what they termed drought-resistant varieties,” Gama said from the small plot of land where she grows maize and groundnuts. But Gama said that the newer varieties have not consistently produced a good crop on her community’s land, apparently because of very poor rains. So she and other local farmers are conducting their own experiments on what seed works best in poor rain conditions. Read the article …
