Byron Mutingwende

They were moved several hundreds of kilometers from Gweru together with many other families to Nembudziya in Gokwe under Zimbabwe’s agricultural resettlement scheme more than two decades ago but Melody Ncube still has fond memories of her original village.

“We hear the primary purpose we were moved here was to decongest us and give us larger pieces of land for farming to improve our capacity to produce food,” Ncube says, digging hard on the ground as she prepares a seedbed to grow vegetables.

She adds that while the motive was good, subsequent droughts had reduced most of the smallholder farmers in that area to beggars since they depend on food hand outs from the government and other non-state actors to supplement the little they harvest from their fields.

Ncube’s problems are not isolated. Even thousands of many other small-scale farmers who were previously on unproductive farmlands and resettled on fertile soils after Zimbabwe’s controversial land reform programme are living in abject poverty.

“When we were resettled, there was not much effort towards subsidizing us with inputs like seed and fertilizers. As a result, vast tracts of our land lie idle because we do not have draught power and inputs so there is no significant improvement in our standards of lives unless the government chips in with the necessary technical support,” lamented Rodgers Chivasa from Mt. Darwin, in Mashonaland Central Province.

Dr. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) chief executive officer says the problems facing many smallholder farmers are not of their own making.

“Agriculture is a sector that is very sensitive to climate change. Food, agriculture and natural resources remain at the receiving end of climate change effects. As an organization we promote policies that address such challenges by facilitating linkages and partnerships between government and civil society; building the capacity for policy analysis and policy dialogue in Africa, and supporting demand-driven policy research and analysis,” Sibanda said.

The Africa Agriculture Status Report 2014 notes that the need for an enabling governance and policy environment is imperative for development, adoption and effective use of technologies and innovations.

On the other hand, the lack of an enabling policy environment limits the use of indigenous knowledge, technologies and practices that are essential for meeting the challenges of climate change.

“The nexus between agricultural research, improved technologies and practices, and policy is a key determinant of the resilience of the agricultural sector to climate change, and the sector’s ability to become more productive and support economic growth and development, poverty reduction, and the improvement of livelihoods,” notes part of the report.

In addition, the development of reliable scientific evidence to inform policy on climate change adaptation, as well as institutionalizing dialogue between researchers and policy makers, is crucial to support adaptation to climate change in Africa.