Posted on November, 1, 2016 at 10:13 am
By Geofrey Kimani
Mwanza — Peter Nyanda, a smallholder farmer in Bukaga Village here has cultivated his land, bought fertiliser and seeds hoping that he would plant soon when the rains come.
But more than a month after cultivating, Mr Nyanda is looking grudgingly at the sky, waiting to see the first raindrops before he can plant seeds.
This is the predicament of Mr Nyanda and his fellow small-scale farmers in Nyamagana District, Mwanza Region as they get anxious following the delay in the start of the long rains season, which normally marks the beginning of planting in the Lake Zone region.
Really, this is not normal for the 78-year-old farmer from Nyamaga District, who says that by this time in the past, he would have finished planting.
And this worries him stiff because most of the food requirements for his family of eight grandchildren plus an additional income comes from his farming activities.
"The month of November is approaching and I have not planted crops yet because of lack of rain. I am not sure whether it will rain or not," he says.
In the past, the growing season for Bukaga villagers usually started in October, but not this year.
This has left Mr Nyanda puzzled as he feeds his family, pays school fees, medical bills and all other expenses from selling some of his crops.
"If it does rain this year, how will we survive," he asks.
Last year, rains in the village and other areas in the district started towards the end September.
"I have stored little food for my grandchildren, which can not last until the next farming season," he says, adding that he harveted two bags of maize in last year's farming season.
To supplement his income, he has started selling dried grass for thatching. A bundle of grass that one can use to thatch a nine-square metre roof goes at Sh2,000.
Farmers in Nyamagana District are in dilemma with the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) saying rains will delay this year.
TMA Mwanza Regional manager Augustino Nduganda says farmers across the Lake Zone will have to wait a bit longer before planting their crops.
Mr Nduganda says that the region will receive low rainfall (below 381mm) for the months of October, November and December.
"Unlike last year, Mwanza and the other Lake Zone regions will experience low rainfall this year," he says.
The Mwanza Regional Agriculture officer, Mr Innocent Keya, has advised farmers to plant drought resistant crops and other crops that take less time to mature.
He attributes this to overgrazing and deforestation.
He areas that were once covered with huge forest are now homes to hundreds of people due the increasing population, which leads to more demand for water and natural resources. This, he says, has continued to affect the climate in the region.
Mr Keya says a number of rivers in the region have dried up due climate change.
Source: The Citizen