THE staple maize crop in Manicaland is showing severe signs of moisture stress and growers are asking questions about options as prospects for the 2015/16 harvest continue to dampen due to erratic rain.
The dry spell has left the majority of farming communities unsure on how to prepare.
The weather phenomenon has increased in variability in recent years and farmers, especially the resources poor small-scale ones, now fear that rain shortage may inevitably result in a devastating drought.
Manicaland is extremely dry, having last received some light showers during the 2015 Christmas holiday and since then the staple maize has been looking miserable and wilting in the scorching heat.
Agritex head for Manicaland, Mr Godfrey Mamhare, on Wednesday admitted that the crop in Manicaland was in a deplorable state.
“There is no rain in the province. The crop is wilting due to moisture stress. Maize was at the vegetative stage, but its state is really deplorable,” said Mr Mamhare.
A stressed crop rapidly loses potential yield.
According to research, when a young crop has too little water its first response is to conserve whatever water there is by closing its stomata – the small pores all over green surfaces that let water out and carbon dioxide in.
Without carbon dioxide photosynthesis stops and so the sugars it normally makes from the carbon ceases to be available for growth – so growth eventually stops – as the leaves stop expanding.
If moisture remains limiting, the crop eventually runs out of time to produce leaves, tillers and spikes and the consequence is a thin canopy with few small spikes, few grains and low yield.
The Meteorological Services Department (MSD) on Wednesday forecasted hot and humid conditions in all areas.
The MSD attributed this to the mid-season dry spell.
“The decline in rainfall activity currently affecting Zimbabwe coincides with the mid-summer dry spell. Normally the dry weather lasts until the second week of January; however it is likely that this dry spell may to continue until mid-January.
“During this period, it is also forecast that from 6 to 8 January 2016, daytime temperatures are predicted to be much higher (averaging between 36°C and 43°C) in parts of Masvingo Province, Matabeleland North Province, Matabeleland South Provinces as well as parts of Mashonaland Central Province.
“This causes heat stress and discomfort on people, crops and livestock. As such, direct exposure to sunlight is strongly discouraged,” reads MSD statement.
Some of the highest ever recorded daytime temperatures in Zimbabwe were last recorded on September 27 and 28 2013 when Chiredzi recorded 43°C and Zaka 41°C.
The waning of rainfall in Zimbabwe and the region in recent years has been attributed to El Niño. The previous El Niño event in Zimbabwe was during the 1997 /98 season when it devastated crop yields and killed livestock.It ignited acute food shortages and soaring food prices, thereby forcing prices of foodstuffs beyond the reach for many and pushed poor households into poverty.
- Manica Post (Zimpapers 1980 LTD)