By Vimbai Malinganiza

SPORADIC and low rainfall patterns in Zimbabwe in recent years have led to a sharp decline in agricultural yield.
Meteorological experts argue that over the past decade, the amount of rainfall the country received has decreased from the ‘multi-decadal mean regularly’. In the latter part of the 20th century, run-off in the country decreased by 20 to 30 percent. The negative changes in the rainfall pattern have contributed to the country’s low food exports, unlike before when the country recorded a surplus in food production almost every year, becoming the breadbasket of Southern Africa.
Droughts have been crippling the nation’s economy and have also led to high levels of emigration as well as low life expectancy levels.
Millions of livestock have been lost due to starvation, as happened in the 1991-1992 drought season and subsequently in the 2002, 2004 and 2012 seasons.
From 1982 to the present, Zimbabwe is one of the African countries that has frequently experienced bad effects of El Nino-induced droughts which have irregularly appeared every two to six years.
El Nino is a climatic phenomenon characterised by the warming of the sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.
Prolonged dry spells, reduced rainfall and increased temperatures are some of the events associated with the El Nino. These conditions often lead to droughts, water shortages and crop failures leading to significant challenges to health, agriculture and food security in the country.
These perennial droughts continue to contribute to food insecurity as staple food prices spike across the country. A combination of these high prices and low incomes then suppresses households’ purchasing power. Droughts also lead to limited access to clean and safe drinking water in both rural and urban communities, posing outbreaks of water-borne diseases like cholera and typhoid.
A report by the Famine Early Warning Systems suggests that El Nino causes scorching heat and significantly below-average rainfall across sub-Saharan Africa, Zimbabwe in particular.
Zimbabwe, among other African countries that have suffered the El Nino challenges, declared a state of emergency due to severe droughts. The droughts have led to a surge in displacement, disease outbreaks and food shortages as mentioned above, thus negatively impacting national economies.
However, governments are taking action to fight the effects of drought in their respective nations. Recently, at the official opening of Regina Coeli Primary School in Nyamaropa, Nyanga, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga reiterated that the Government’s food relief programme, which encompasses grain distribution and the urban cash transfers programme, is apolitical and aimed at benefitting everyone who is food insecure.
VP Chiwenga said President Emmerson Mnangagwa has taken bold steps to ensure that no Zimbabwean is food insecure due to the El Nino drought which has prompted the Government to come up with mitigation measures.
“Zimbabwe and the whole SADC region are suffering from the effects of the El Nino-induced drought which affected agricultural production last year and this year. This means that some of our people are food insecure,” said VP Chiwenga.
“Our President, His Excellency Cde Dr Mnangagwa, through his able leadership, has vowed that no Zimbabwean should be food insecure or die of hunger. The Government is seized with providing for the vulnerable without discrimination.”
The Government of Zimbabwe has also partnered with various stakeholders, non-governmental organisations, UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and other countries to help provide food and cash to the vulnerable facing El Nino-induced drought.

This year, the Government and the World Food Programme (WFP) received US$1,4 million from Japan as part of its commitment to fighting severe drought. The money was meant to benefit over 25 000 people from vulnerable communities nationwide.
Despite the severe drought, Zimbabwe is continuing to make significant progress in developing and implementing drought mitigation strategies. In May this year, the Government, through the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development (MLAFWRD) and FAO also formed the El Nino Drought Action Committee (DAC) to develop drought mitigation strategies.
DAC will be responsible for coordinating all drought response interventions to save lives in the immediate term and build climate-resilient livelihoods as well as agri-foods systems in the longer term.
The Rural District Councils (RDCs) in some communities in Zimbabwe have, through negotiations and partnerships with NGOs such as CARE Zimbabwe and the WFP, engaged the local Government to use Grain Marketing Board (GMB) storage facilities for the grain stocks. Grain reserves are important in cases of drought response preparations.
As the President always says, Zimbabwe is a friend to all and enemy to none, it is, therefore, possible for humanitarian partners to continue to scale up their response amid limited resources in Zimbabwe.
Southern African agricultural economist Horace Phiri, in one of his statements on drought in Africa, has advocated for the advice and guidance of agricultural extension workers, whose knowledge can be applied to ease the effects of failed rains. Phiri suggests that African farmers can sometimes plant other drought-resistant crops instead of maize.
There is need for continuous education and preparations on combating the effects of droughts in Africa, Zimbabwe in particular.