Agriculture extension (agritex) officers in drought-prone Binga are at the forefront of government-supported conservation farming, viewed as one of the ways of circumventing climate change effects on crop yields, notwithstanding a cocktail of challenges they face.
Located in Matabeleland North, the greater part of Binga falls under agro-ecological regions 4 and 5 which receive the least annual rainfall in the country. However, Lusulu and surrounding areas, considered the district’s green belt fall under Region 3.
Earlier investigations by CITE established that Binga has 50 agritex officers, two-thirds of the minimum required number. Their biggest challenge is poor remuneration, whereby a diploma holder is paid less than a general hand in the Ministry of Health.
Agritex workers, across the country, not just in Binga, experience limited operational resources like transport to reach farmers, lack of appropriate technology, and in-service training for agriculture practices such as agroecology which are alternatives to addressing food insecurity because of climate change.
Research has also shown that the development needs of smallholder farmers have often been overlooked during the delivery of agricultural information due to a lack of curriculum reform and gaps between agricultural extension officers’ training and farmers’ changing needs.
Agritex national director Stancilae Tapererwa has said efforts were being made to capacitate agriculture extension officers with motorcycles, fuel, and tablets for data collection.
But the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Professor Obert Jiri appeared not convinced that the country has a shortage of agritex officers.
“It depends on the number of farmers serviced by the officer,” he argued, adding the issue of capacitation of agritex workers falls under their employer – the Public Service Commission.
Despite the challenges, agritex workers are spearheading conservation farming projects on the ground in Binga.
Popularly known as Pfumvudza/Intwasa in local languages, conservation farming refers to an agriculture concept involving a crop production intensification approach under which farmers efficiently use resources on a small area of land to optimise its management.
One Agritex officer in the district said notwithstanding fuel and airtime challenges, they were directly involved in the programme and at the forefront of ensuring its success.
Binga District Agritex officer, Pedias Midzi Ndlovu said under conservation farming, they have since encouraged farmers to form groups of 10 to 15 to help one another dig up holes in their plots in preparation for the upcoming cropping season.
Under the programme, a smallholder farmer must prepare between three to five plots measuring 16×34 metres and can only receive seed from the government after preparing at least three.
“Some farmers have since prepared their three plots as I speak,” said Ndlovu,” adding each plot has 52 lines to cater for 52 weeks within a year.
“Each line will give a farmer 28 cobs of maize and that is equivalent to a bucket of maize,” he explained.
“One plot should give a farmer 52 buckets to cater for the whole year. It is a small plot, which does not require a farmer to labour much with weeding but can give them food enough for the whole year.”
Ndlovu said a bucket of grain is enough to feed an average family of five in a week.
The farmer should have a maximum of five plots,” he said.
“In other plots, farmers can grow maize for sale, beans for relish, sunflower for cooking oil. In so doing, we would have saved human lives.”
Ndlovu said the Department of Agritex expects farmers to be done with their land preparation by the time the country receives the first rains, adding the list of seed beneficiaries will be drawn by extension officers on the ground.
“The farmer who is going to receive seed is the one who would have prepared three plots,” said Ndlovu.
“As agriculture extension officers together with farmers, we are saying let’s do like the biblical 10 virgins,” Ndlovu emphasized.
“We are saying let’s not look for lamps and oil on the wedding day. Let’s prepare for the wedding of the coming of rains well in advance.”
The district agritex officer said while their officers in the wards have motorbikes, what is however slowing down the digging of holes are cattle that cover them up as they cross unfenced fields.
“Fields are not fenced in Binga so cattle cross as they please and at times cover the holes, forcing farmers to redo the process,” Ndlovu elaborated.
A smallholder farmer in Ward 1, Fatima Mudenda, said they were satisfied with their interactions with agritex officers in the implementation of the conservation farming programme.
“We are busy digging up holes for conservation farming as part of preparations for the coming crop season,” said Mudenda.
“Agritex officers are training lead farmers who will then train the rest of the farmers.”
Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) Matabeleland North chairperson, Busani Khumalo, said farmers in the province meet with Agritex officers monthly throughout the year and weekly during the cropping season as they do rotations.
“Farmers take the advice from Agritex officers seriously including conservation farming,” said Khumalo.
“A number of them have since dug the holes. Agritex should make sure that all broken down motorbikes are fixed to keep their officers busy and do weekly reports.”
He added: “If you are to take a close look you would realise that some agritex officers go off-season especially those in dry land and only become active during the rainy season.”
Zenzele Nkomo, Matabeleland North provincial agronomist said while their officers were there 24/7 to assist farmers, the drought experienced in the past cropping season in Binga has been a result of lack of rainfall.
“The challenge is that we rely on rain-fed agriculture and we have been experiencing dry spells.” said Nkomo.
“We have been encouraging farmers in Mat North to do more of traditional grains. To address the challenge of shorter seasons that we are experiencing, we encourage farmers to also adopt short-season varieties. We also encourage the growing of sunflower because it is drought tolerant.”
She added: “It is not necessarily Binga that experiences recurring droughts, just like in the past season, it was a nationwide drought that Binga could not do anything. If you go to Binga, there is part of Binga which is region 3 and you will find out that even if the seasons are bad they get something but for last year, they were also hard-hit.”
On the shortage of agritex officers she said: “Before, there has been a shortage of agritex officers in Mat North, but their number has seen been increased. The challenge is that wards are very big.”
While Ndlovu remained optimistic that conservation farming will be a success in the event Binga receives rains, one agritex officer said that was dependent upon the government availing the inputs in time.
“Intwasa is not realising its intended goal in that while farmers prepare their land in advance they get the inputs late,” he decried.
While the previous cropping season was a complete disaster countrywide, normal to above-normal rains are expected in the looming 2024/25 cropping season, something that has raised hopes for many farmers.
This story is published under the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe Investigative Journalism Fund with support from Action Aid Zimbabwe under the Partnership for Social Accountability Program.
