Times Of Swaziland: GROW DROUGHT-RESISTANT  CROPS - AGRIC MINISTER

GROW DROUGHT-RESISTANT  CROPS - AGRIC MINISTER
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Stanley Khumalo on 11/12/2018 08:18:00


MBABANE – In anticipation of an acute decline in rainfall in the upcoming
months, the minister of Agriculture has called on farmers in the country to grow
drought-resistant crops.
Drought-resistant crops are plants that can tolerate high temperatures, require
less water and take a short period of time to grow. These include sunflower,
cotton, beans, millet, sorghum, okra, and legumes. Minister Jabulani Mabuza said
according to climate prediction, the country is anticipated to have inadequate
rainfall. The minister said the country had received depressed rainfalls despite
that it was already the rainy season.
Improve
Mabuza urged farmers to focus on early maturity drought-resistant crop varieties
and small grains to improve their yields as the country prepared for erratic
rainfall in the 2018/ 2019 summer cropping season. “The erratic temperatures
and rainfall signify climate change and therefore, farmers in the country need
to cultivate crops that require less water during this period.”
Varieties
He said in the absence of adequate rainfall, farmers should invest on early
maturity drought-resistant crop varieties and small grains after the predictions
of poor rains in the summer cropping season.  “This will increase the
farmers’ chances of yielding in an inconsistent rainfall season.” The
minister encouraged farmers to adapt and to alleviate effects of climate change.
Suppliers
This season, he said, farmers had to work closely with their extension officers
and input suppliers. This, he said, was to enable the farmers to buy appropriate
seeds that could withstand the drought spell. Mabuza said according to weather
forecasts, it was anticipated that the period of January and February would have
the lowest rainfall collection. He further said farmers rearing cattle should
start collecting bales so that their cattle could have feed during the dry
period. Weather forecasters have said the rainfall season points to an El Nino
effect. El Nino is the warming of ocean currents off the South American coast
around December and causes below normal rainfall patterns and above normal
temperatures in specific areas around the world.