The Sunday Mail
Farmers should engage in other farming methods and introduce drought-resistant crops to guarantee food security
Farmers have been urged to inter-crop and grow legume varieties as a way of combating food insecurity and reducing poverty.
The call was made by agricultural experts who recently converged in Harare for the 5th Annual Review and Planning meeting for the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume based Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (Simelsa).
Participants were drawn from East and Southern Africa.
The aim of the programme is to promote increased farm-level food security and to sustainably increase the productivity of selected maize-legume systems in Eastern and Southern Africa by 30 percent from the 2009 average for each target country by the year 2020.
Funded by the Australian government, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), is the commissioned implementing agency.
Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania are the five Simelsa implementing countries.
Simelsa falls under the African Food Security Initiative to assist African countries reduce poverty and eliminate hunger as part of the Millennium Development Goal 1, which seeks to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
Scientist and agricultural economist Dr Mulugetta Mekuria advised farmers to seriously consider inter-cropping and growing of legumes.
“Research has shown that legumes such as pigeon pea, peanuts and soyabeans improve soil fertility by capturing nitrogen from the atmosphere and converting it into compounds that can be used by plants.
“Besides, legumes are a source of high protein and I advise local farmers to grow them,” Dr Mekuria said.
Farmers can plant legumes next to grain crops or they can be alternated by season.
Communal farmers in Murehwa and Goromonzi districts of Mashonaland East province have taken a leading role in inter-cropping and the growing of legumes.
A field trip that formed part of the Simelsa review process revealed that farmers inter-cropping and growing legumes are realising better harvests than those that are not.
“As you can see, my maize filed is thriving.
“Last year, I planted peanuts on this field and this improved soil fertility,” said Mrs Eustina Mugomba, one of the farmers who has turned to inter-cropping.
Under Simelsa, communal farmers are taught how to inter-crop maize and legumes. Maize can be inter-cropped with either pigeon pea, beans or cowpeas.
The Simelsa review process showed how farmers in East and Southern Africa faced similar challenges like weak links to markets and high transport costs among others.
Like most Eastern and Southern African countries, Malawi’s economy is heavily dependent on agriculture, which contributes about 30-40 percent of GDP.
Agriculture employs more than 85 percent of the country’s workforce and contributes between 85-96 percent of foreign exchange earnings.
In Tanzania, agriculture employs 84 percent of the rural population.
CIMMYT is also actively involved in other efforts to combat hunger and eradicate poverty Zimbabwe.
In partnership with the International Livestock Research Institute, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and other partners, CIMMYT is engaged in a project called Integrating Crops and Livestock for Improved Food Security and Livelihoods in Zimbabwe.
The project objectives are to improve smallholder crop-livestock farming systems and access to resources, technologies and markets among others.
