By Innocent Ndorikanda.
Harare, Zimbabwe. (News Of The South) – Zimbabwe boasts of once carrying the tag of the bread basket of Southern Africa and, although that remains trapped in the past for now, the Government and many concerned people are working restlessly to bring back the once flourishing agricultural industry.
This year alone the Government embarked on Command agriculture, notwithstanding the debate on its success and viability, the government mobilised about 500 million dollars to bankroll production on 400 000 hectares owned by 2000 by farmers near water bodies is indicative of the country’s thirst for a revived agriculture and this is hinging on availability of good rains or at least water bodies.
The dream to have the country’s agriculture industry roar into a giant again could remain obscure and a pipe dream if climate change issues are not prioritised. Poor agricultural production menaces not only the country’s Gross Domestic Product, but also, has bigger adverse bearing on food security at family levels.
For a country with 80% of the population relying on agriculture for livelihoods, a slight distortion on production is a death penalty to food security yet still the economy. Of the total land area of the country of 39, 6 million hectares, agriculture is practiced on 15, 8 million hectares which about 40% of the total area and this put agriculture as the most practice economic activity and the hope for economic turnaround.
United States of America drought monitor intimates that global warming threatens food production as crops will demand more water.
“Even in regions that may not see changes in precipitation, warmer temperatures can increase water demands and evaporation, putting greater stress on water supplies”.
“In recent years, droughts have struck several major breadbasket regions simultaneously, adding to food price instability. In countries already facing reduced food security, cost spikes can lead to social unrest, migration, and famine. Several price spikes have occurred over the last decade, often connected to crop failures or poor yield. During the 2007-2008 crisis, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimated that high food prices increased the number of chronically hungry people in the word by 75 million”. USA drought monitor added.
As far back as 1992 the Government of Zimbabwe showed interest in the crusade of mitigating climate change when it signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and many other international conventions that followed but a lot still need to be done at national level.
Zimbabwe contributes to climate change through a number of practices. The burning of coal for the generation of electricity and the collecting and burning of biomass fuel for domestic heating, cooking and lighting purposes are a real and pressing danger to the environment.
Our national industry has increased carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 40 percent over the 15 years leading up to 2005. A coherent energy policy, combined with an electrification program needs to be enacted in order to cut Zimbabwe’s contribution to climate change. This policy will call for the use of cleaner fuel.
As global warming continues scientist have warned that temperatures should not surge above 1.5ºC if mother earth is not to be thrust into catastrophe. Zimbabwe, as an equal obligation to mitigate climate change.
Climate change has been touted much about with developed countries being accused of committing the bigger sin of emitting harmful gasses into the atmosphere but there is need to look on how this affect our country directly as this helps in moving out of blame game and start to effect positive change.
The country needs about 2 million tons of maize in order to have sufficient food for the country and less than 20% of the arable land is under irrigations this means production relies mostly on rain fed agriculture. If the global warming continues to surge its ramifications will be felt in plummeted agricultural output.
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