Some farmers buy seed at discounted prices during a seed fair in Masvingo, Zimbabwe. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS

By Farai Shawn Matiashe
MAFAURE, Zimbabwe, Dec 11 2024 (IPS)

When Susan Chinyengetere started to focus on farming in her home village in south-eastern Zimbabwe, she wondered if she could earn a living and raise her children.

With climate catastrophes ravaging the country, her hesitation on rain-fed agriculture worsened. But two years later, the 32-year-old mother of two from Mafaure village in Masvingo, about 295 km from the capital Harare, is now a champion in farming.

Armed with early maturity and drought-resistant crop varieties like orange maize, cowpeas and lab-lab for livestock feed, Chinyengetere has a good harvest despite prolonged droughts across Zimbabwe.

“There was a drought last farming season, but I managed to get enough food to feed my family until next season,” she says. “I even sold leftovers to the local market.”

Brutal Drought Ravaging Crops

Zimbabwe, a landlocked country, relies on rain-fed agriculture. But over the years, rain patterns have been erratic, threatening the entire agriculture sector. The Southern African nation has been hit by one climate disaster after another. If there are no violent cyclones, severe floods or devastating droughts are ravaging the country.

From 2023 to 2024, a brutal El Niño drought—the strongest on record—plummeted the entire country.

Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia were also not spared by the same El Niño drought. There was crop failure in more than 80 percent of the country, according to the government.

Some farmers have been left with little or no food, and sources of livelihood in rural areas have been affected. Zimbabwe may be reaching a tipping point for rain-fed agriculture.

But woman farmers like Chinyengetere have their little secret as to how they are becoming resilient and adapting to the effects of climate change. She is part of Ukama Ustawi, an Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa by CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future dedicated to transforming food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis. The farmers are subdivided into small groups of at most 15.

“I use zero tillage when I plant orange maize on my land spanning 40 m by 90 m. The idea is not to disturb the soil,” says Chinyengetere. “I was used to white maize. When I joined this project, I planted yellow maize for the first time.”

Zero tillage is an agricultural technique where farmers sow seeds directly into the soil without disturbing it. It is part of conservation agriculture that is becoming popular in Zimbabwe after it was upscaled across the country by the government. Chinyengetere prefers the technique because it has less labour than tillage farming.

“Even when I am alone and my children are at school, I can still sow the whole field,” she says.

In Masvingo, men are also providing solutions to climate change through the Ukama Ustawi initiative, though women are the majority.

Anton Mutasa from Zindere village in Masvingo says he has been able to feed his family because of climate-smart agriculture. “I grow orange maize, cowpeas, and lab-lab. To conserve water, prevent soil erosion and allow water to infiltrate, I spread some mulch around the plants,” says the 55-year-old father of six.

“This is vital, particularly during the dry season. I also rotate the crops to improve soil fertility. For instance, if I grew cowpeas on this part of land last season, this season I will make sure I grow oranges.”

Climate change affects women differently

Both men and women are affected by climate change. But for women, it hits harder because of the preexisting inequalities. They suffer because of the entrenched societal roles and limited access to resources.

Women are primarily responsible for cooking for the family and fetching water, particularly in rural areas. This places them on the frontlines of climate change because food and water become scarce during extreme weather events like drought.

Another farmer, Tendai Marange, from Machengere village in Masvingo, says less labour farming techniques allow women to continue their role as women. “I am expected to do house chores, but at the same time I want to go to the farm. This technique saves me time,” says the 47-year-old mother of three.

Chinyengetere says she is inspiring other women. “I feel empowered. I am occupied. The fact that I am bringing income and food for the family brings happiness to my marriage,” she says. “I even doubted myself. I thought, as a woman, I am a child-bearing machine.”

Once Chinyengetere and Marange’s projects are successful, they will share what they learned with others in Zimbabwe and beyond the borders.

“I am contributing solutions to climate change. Women are often at the receiving end of climate change. But my case is different; I am leading from the front,” says Chinyengetere.

Over 1 million farmers have been reached with different agriculture initiatives. At least 140,000 use the technologies that were promoted under Ukama Ustawi in Ethiopia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia, according to Christian Thierfelder, a principal cropping systems agronomist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), one of the research centres working with CGIAR.

About 60 percent of those were women. More than 45 percent were youth.

Thierfelder says as part of Ukama Ustawi in Zimbabwe, they work in 30 communities, where they have trials on drought-resistant crops.

He says Ukama Ustawi’s primary aim is to shift farmers’ behavior and perceptions, moving away from conventional maize-only farming systems towards diversified maize-based systems under conservation agriculture principles. “This involves promoting practices like crop rotation, intercropping, and sustainable soil management, all of which are essential for improving resilience to climate variability and boosting long-term productivity,” Thierfelder says.

Many farmers across the country lost their livestock due to lack of feed after grazing lands were depleted and outbreaks of diseases precipitated by the El Niño drought. Ukama Ustawi is working to change this by fostering livestock feeding systems with green manure cover crops and forage grasses.

“I lost my cattle in the previous droughts before joining Ukama Ustawi. I had no feed and diseases worsened the situation. I am now using lab-lab to make feed for my goats,” says Marange.

Networking

Ukama is a Shona word that translates to relationship. Marange says the groups provide networking opportunities. “We are a family. We share tips and ideas on conservation farming,” she says.

Since 2020, CIMMYT has been organizing seed and mechanization fairs where farmers access high-quality seeds and equipment they would otherwise struggle to access. “It is cheap to buy seeds at the fairs. It is usually cheap. We get discounts,” says Marange.

Thierfelder says Ukama Ustawi recognizes the importance of integrating a variety of crops, such as legumes, cowpeas, groundnuts, and small grains, into maize-dominated systems to achieve both ecological and economic sustainability.

“Seed fairs play a pivotal role in advancing this mission by providing farmers access to a diverse range of seeds, including drought-tolerant maize and other complementary crops that support diversification,” he says.

Thierfelder says plans are underway to upscale the Ukama Ustawi initiative to reach approximately more than 20 million farmers around the world with their technologies. “This is meant to be scaled up because those have reached a scaling readiness level and that is very high,” he says.

For Chinyengetere, the dream is to see more women leading the battle against climate change. “It is tough to convince young women to do farming under this extreme weather. Climate change is pushing them away into other dangerous activities like illegal mining,” she says.

Note: This story was produced with support from CGIAR and MESHA.

IPS UN Bureau Report