Joint proceedings of the 27th Soil Science Society of East Africa and the 6th African Soil Science Society

An assessment of crop, and soil and water management practises of smallholders in different climate scenarios of

K. Musiyiwa1,2, L.W. Filho1, J. Nyamangara2 and D. Harris3

1Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Lohbruegger Kirchstraße 65, Sector S4 / Room 0.38, 21033 Hamburg, Germany 2International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Matopos Research Station, P.O. Box 776, , Zimbabwe 3ICRISAT-Nairobi, P.O. Box 39063 Nairobi, Kenya Abstract Food security and livelihoods of smallholders in sub-saharan Africa can be improved through suiTable strategies for handling climate-induced risks. Current projections suggest mainly negative effects of warmer climates on smallholder agriculture by the 2050s. Assessment of farmer practises in different smallholder areas can inform climate policy for effective adaptation smallholdeder to current and future climates. The objective of this paper was to outline the use of climate analogues in identifying adaptation options for current and future climates in wetter and drier smallholder areas in Zimbabwe. Climate analogue pairs selected for wetter sites were Mazowe/Goromonzi districts (cooler) and (warmer) and for the drier sites Matobo district (cooler) and (warmer). Chiredzi was hypothesised to represent Matobo 2050s climates, and Kadoma was hypothesised to represent Mazowe/Goromonzi 2050s climates. Data on farming practises was collected through a structured questionnaire administered to a total of 627 respondents. Crops grown during the 2010/2011 season and soil and water management options used by farmers were compared between analogue pairs and between differently managed households. These were no differences in crops grown, and soil and water management strategies choices of male and female headed households. At the wetter sites the main crops grown were maize and groundnut. At the drier sites the main crops grown in Matobo included maize, groundnut, bambara nut and cowpea, and in Chiredzi maize, sorghum, groundnut, bambara-nut, cowpea, pearl millet. The main soil and water management startegies used at the wetter sites Mazowe/Goromoni district, Kadoma included conservation agriculture and mulching. Low proportions of households in Chiredzi (the drier, warmer site) compared to the other sites used soil and water mangent technologies Implications are that for current wetter climates in Zimbabwe, soil and water management stragegies are important options for smallholders while crop choices will important for drier sites in warmer 2050s climates. Key words: climate change, adaptation, crop choices, soil and water management Introduction According to some climate models, temperature increases of about 3oC and ± 5 % to 15% changes in mean annual precipitation are projected for the sub-Saharan African region by the mid-century (Hulme et al., 2001; Christensen et al., 2007). The impacts of warmer 2050s climates on crop yields are projected to be mainly negative (Schlenker and Lobell, 2010, Zinyengere et al., 2014). Some direct effects of climate change on crop production include increased evapo-transpiration, heat stress and shorter growing seasons. Decreased yields due to climate change may in turn affect food security and livelihoods. Smallholder farmers, who already experience low productivity due to socio-economic and biophysical challenges, are particularly vulnerable to climate change effects. Identifying adaptation options through better understanding of perceived risks and opportunities, and mainstreaming gender issues, specifically for women, is important for climate change planning and adaptation. Smallholders in Zimbabwe, like in most of sub-Saharan Africa, mainly depend on rain-fed agriculture. Most smallholders are poorly resourced and productivity on their farms is usually low (e.g. FAO/WFP

Transforming rural livelihoods in Africa: How can land and water management contribute to enhanced food security and address climate change adaptation and mitigation? 20-25 October 2013. Nakuru, Kenya. Joint proceedings of the 27th Soil Science Society of East Africa and the 6th African Soil Science Society

2010; Chimhowu et al. 2009; Ministry of Agriculture 2007; 2012). They manage environmental stresses through use of different strategies that include use of tolerant crops and various soil and water management strategies that include use mulching and reduced tillage methods and soil fertility management. Choices of management strategies and technology adoption is influenced by bio-physical characteristics such as rainfall (Amsalu and de Graaff, 2007) as well as socio-economic characteristics of the farmers such as resource status, gender of head of household (e.g. Mazvimavi and Twomlow, 2009) and supporting institutions (e.g. Chhetri et al., 2012) among other factors. Therefore farmers need to enhance capital assets for sustainability production. Smallholder systems are diverse; livelihood options, gender roles, capital assets as well as climate induced-risks differ and thus require different management strategies. Increasing options for improved livelihoods for current and future climates in different smallholder areas requires an integration of methods that mainstream gender issues and include multi-stakeholder processes. Building on existing knowledge and farmer practices enables progressive adaptation (Cooper et al., 2008) to climate change. Climate analogue analysis can assist in assessing climate- induced risks and their interaction with other capital assets of the smallholder farmers. Spatial temperature analogue models assume that cooler regions will behave like the patterns observed in other regions currently with warmer climates if they were subjected to a climate-induced shift (Burke et al., 2009). Burke et al. (2009) demonstrated the existence of analogues for 2050s growing season temperatures for maize, millet, and sorghum in several African countries. It was on the basis of the existence of climate analogues in Zimbabwe and the need for progressive adaptation to climate change that this study was carried out. This study was conducted in the framework of the Adapting agriculture to climate change: Developing promising strategies using analogue locations in Eastern and Southern Africa” (CALESA – Climate Analogue Locations in Eastern and Southern Africa) Project implemented by ICRISAT through on- station and participatory approaches. The participatory approach sought to characterise farming systems and document smallholder farmer perceptions. This paper outlines the use of climate analogues and farmer practices in assessing adaptation options for current and future climates of smallholder areas in Zimbabwe. It hypothesizes that crop choices and soil and water management technologies choices of smallholder farmers differ by climate and by gender of head of household. Methodology Site selection Four sites representing two analogue pairs representing semi-arid and semi-humid agricultural areas in Zimbabwe were selected. The selection was based on average of mean annual temperature and mean annual rainfall of 30 years climatic data from the Zimbabwe Meteorological Services Department (ZMSD). Analogue pairs with similar average annual temperature and mean annual temperature differences of at least 2-4oC consisted of Mazowe/Goromonzi (Reference site) and Kadoma (analogue site) representing wetter sites and, Matobo (cooler) and Chiredzi (warmer) representing the drier sites. Soils at the study sites consisted mainly of sands and sandy loams in Matobo, Kadoma and Mazowe/Goromonzi sites. Sandy soils are associated with poor water holding capacity and low fertility. Data collection Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through household interviews as well as key informant interviews. The household survey was conducted from July 2011 until September 2011. Selection of respondents involved multi-stage processes. Firstly, at least three wards were purposefully selected at each site to include smallholder areas and old resettlement areas only. In each ward a minimum of 150 respondents, and at least 30% representing female-headed households were interviewed. Data collected using semi-structured questionnaires included crops grown during the 2010/2011 cropping season, quantitative information on soil water and fertility management technologies used by farmers and

2 Transforming rural livelihoods in Africa: How can land and water management contribute to enhanced food security and address climate change adaptation and mitigation? Nakuru, Kenya. 20-25 October 2013 Joint proceedings of the 27th Soil Science Society of East Africa and the 6th African Soil Science Society qualitative information. Proportions of households who use each soil and water management technique were compared between analogue pairs and between differently managed households at each site using the chi-square test.

Table 1: Description of selected sites

Surveys Characteristics Mean annual T°C Mean annual Soil types districts Rainfall (mm) Matobo Cool/dry (reference) 18.4 567.1 Greyish brown sands Chiredzi Hot/dry (analogue) Heavy clays, vertisols, 21.3 541.2 sands, sandy loams Difference 2.9 -25.9 Mazowe & Cool/wet (reference) Greyish brown sands and Goromonzi 18.2 842.9 sandy loams Kadoma Hot/wet (analogue) Greyish brown sands and District 21.8 721.7 sandy loams Difference 3.6 -121.2

Results Of the households selected, the proportion of female households for the survey ranged from 26% (Kadoma) to 43 % (Mazowe/Goromonzi). Greater than 80% of these were de-jure female headed households. De-facto female headed households were about 17% in Chiredzi (warmer, dry), and less than 10% at the other sites. Informal discussions with females showed that male labour migration accounted for most of the de-facto female headed households in Chiredzi. Crops grown at study sites during the 2010/2011 season At the wetter sites maize was the main crop. In addition to small grains in Chiredzi, main crops grown at the dry sites of Matobo and Chiredzi were maize, groundnut and cowpea (Table 2). There were differences in the range of crops grown by female headed households compared to male headed households. Soil and water management strategies used by households The identified differences in soil and water management uptake and usage within and across analogues, are shown in Table 3. In general, higher proportions of households from wetter sites use soil and water management strategies compared to those from the drier sites. The proportion of households that used reduced tillage methods such as conservation agriculture, tied ridges and winter ploughing, was higher in higher in Kadoma district compared to Mazowe/, and in Matobo district compared to Chiredzi districts. There was higher use of tied ridges and contour ridges in Mazowe/Goromonzi compared to Kadoma. There were no gender differences in soil and water management strategies used in male-headed households compared to female-headed households. Soil fertility usage was higher in Matobo, Mazowe/Goromonzi and Kadoma and lower in Chiredzi.

3 Transforming rural livelihoods in Africa: How can land and water management contribute to enhanced food security and address climate change adaptation and mitigation? Nakuru, Kenya. 20-25 October 2013 Joint proceedings of the 27th Soil Science Society of East Africa and the 6th African Soil Science Society

Table 2: Crop production characteristics at study sites during the 2010/2011 season Wetter pair Drier pair Mazowe & Adoma χ2 Matobo Chiredzi χ2 Goromonzi (warmer) (cooler) (warmer) (cooler) n 153 150 159 165 Crops grown by Maize, Groundnut Maize, N/A Maize, Maize, N/A >20% of households Cotton, Groundnut Sorghum Groundnut , (red, white), Bambara- Groundnut, nut, Bambara-nut, Cowpea Cowpea, Pearl millet Crops grown by < Bambara-nut, Sorghum N/A Sorghum( Cotton, N/A 20% households Finger-millet, (white), white, red) Sunflower, Sugar bean, Cowpea, Pearl Sugar bean , Cowpea, Cotton, Bambara- millet Soya bean, Sunflower, nut Barley Tobacco, Rice, Okra Proportion maize 89.4 53.1 N/A 79.2 37.6 N/A area (%) Households with 6.5 4.0 0.94 11.9 92.1 208.823*** small grains (%) 7 *Significant at the 10% level; **Significant at the 5% level; ***Significant at the 1% level

Table 3: Proportion of households who have used soil and water management technologies

Wetter pair Drier pair Strategy Mazowe Kadoma χ2 Matobo Chiredzi χ2 % hhds % hhds % hhds1 % hhds n 153 150 159 165 1. Soil and water Reduced tillage 52.9 82.7 30.869*** 53.5 9.1 74.700*** methods management Mulching 60.8 64 0.334 28.9 15.2 9.7868 Contour ridges 32.7 4.7 38.917*** 47.2 27.7 14.648*** Tied ridges 11.8 21.3 5.033* 11.9 3.6 7.859** Winter ploughing 3.3 14.7 12.988** 10.7 1.2 13.181*** Water harvesting 5.9 2.7 1.907 3.8 2.4 0.493 Pot holing 6.5 0.7 7.458* 0.6 5.5 6.304* Multiple weeding 0 0 - 1.3 4.8 3.490 Gulleys 3.3 0 - 0.6 1.8 - 2. Soil fertility Chemical 3.758 235.584*** fertilizer 99.3 96 89.9 4.8 management Animal manure 85.6 75.3 5.678 73 25.5 73.397*** Compost 73.2 64 2.980 71.1 17.6 94.374*** Crop rotation 54.2 63.3 2.580 35.2 25.5 3.660 *Significant at the 10% level’ **Significant at the 5% level; ***Significant at the 1% level; 1households

4 Transforming rural livelihoods in Africa: How can land and water management contribute to enhanced food security and address climate change adaptation and mitigation? Nakuru, Kenya. 20-25 October 2013 Joint proceedings of the 27th Soil Science Society of East Africa and the 6th African Soil Science Society

Discussion and lessons learned This study hypothesizes that crop choices and soil and water management technologies choices of smallholder farmers differ by climate. The results from this study show that adaptation strategies for crop production with respect to crop choices and soil and water management differed between analogue pairs. At the wetter sites implications are that crop choices will continue to be influenced by, among other factors, prevailing market forces. The importance of soil water and soil fertility management particularly at wetter sites is illustrated by high proportions of smallholder farmers who use strategies to conserve soil moisture and increase soils fertility such as use of inorganic and organic forms of fertilizer. This study showed that both male headed and female headed households used similar soil fertility and, soil and water management technologies. Tazeze et al., (2012) illustrated that different socio-economic factors such as gender, age and literacy levels of the household heads, household sizes, and livestock ownership among other factors influence adaptation strategies. Increased access to agricultural resources, labour, information and inputs is required, for both male headed and female headed households, to improve adoption of various technologies for management of risks associated with climate change. At the drier sites implications from this study are increased uptake of cereals such as sorghum and millets in Matobo and areas with similar rainfall and temperature characteristics in 2050s. Crop choices are one of the common coping and adaptation strategies employed by rain-fed smallholder farmers (Kurukulasuriya and Mendelsohn, 2008). Small grain production is associated with high labour demands for bird scaring, harvesting and processing. Meanwhile these small grains are grown in drier areas which are associated with high incidences of male labour migration. Results from in-depth interviews with the household heads and respondents showed that male labour migration accounted for higher proportions of de-facto female heads at the dry, warmer Chiredzi compared to Matobo and the wetter sites. In addition higher proportions of female heads who are full time farmers imply higher contribution by most rural women in domestic duties and agricultural production. Meanwhile there was lower use of soil fertility, and soil and water management strategies in Chiredzi compared to Matobo. Chiredzi farmers attributed lower use of soil fertility management strategies to high risks of crop failure due with low and erratic rainfall and high temperature. These results illustrate different climate–induced risks in current and future climates that require smallholder farmers to have increased access to different resources, skills and adaptation options for improved food security. Conclusion and recommendations Current and future projections on climate change and temperature increases in Africa as a whole, and in Zimbabwe in particular, means that there is a pressing need to seek adaptation strategies in agriculture, which may allow farmers to better cope with such changes. Due to a combination of lack of resources, skills and access to technologies, smallholder farmers including women, are especially vulnerable. Gender issues in climate change and agriculture differ and this suggests that context- specific approaches are needed so as to reach diverse male and female farmers. Preliminary results show that climate analogue analysis and involvement of stakeholders such as smallholder farmers can contribute to the process of identifying adaptation options for current and future climates. At the wetter sites, implications are that in future climates there may be need for increased uptake of soil and water management strategies for Mazowe/Goromoni farmers and that prevailing market forces and household prefernces many influence crop choices. Policies are therefore required that increase access to resources that increase adoption of effective soil and water management startegies in differently managed households. These access to draft power, labour, agricultural assets, social and financial capital as well as enabling markets.

5 Transforming rural livelihoods in Africa: How can land and water management contribute to enhanced food security and address climate change adaptation and mitigation? Nakuru, Kenya. 20-25 October 2013 Joint proceedings of the 27th Soil Science Society of East Africa and the 6th African Soil Science Society

In drier areas such as Matobo district, implications are that in 2050s climates, one of the main adaptation strategies is increased uptake of drought tolerant crops such as sorghum and millet. Production and processing of small grains, against a background of male labour migration imply increased labour demands for women, in addition to their domestic and reproductive roles. Policies for such areas should promote strategies and technologies for domestic and productive purposes with low labour requirements. There may also be need for increased investment for effective water management research that can easily be adopted by farmers, as well as technology dissemination for drier areas to increase productivity. Acknowledgement We would like to acknowledge the following; the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany who sponsored the study through the “Adapting agriculture to climate change: Developing promising strategies using analogue locations in Eastern and Southern Africa”(CALESA – Climate Analogue Locations in Eastern and Southern Africa) Project, ICRISAT – Bulawayo, Zimbabwe for facilitating the field work, the Zimbabwe Meteorological Services Department for providing meteorological data. References Amsalu A and de Graaff J. (2007) Determinants of adoption and continued use of stone terraces for soil and water conservation in an Ethiopian highland watershed. Ecological economics 61, 294-302. Burke M.B., Lobell D.B. and Guarino L. (2009) Shifts in African crop climates by 2050, and the implications for crop improvement and genetic resources conservation. Global Environmental Change. 19, 317–325. Chhetri N., Chaudhary P. Raj Tiwari P. and, Ram Baran Yadaw (2012) Institutional and technological innovation: Understanding agricultural adaptation to climate change in Nepal. Applied Geography 33, 142-150. Chimhowu A., Bare T., Chiripanhura B., Chitekwe-Biti B., Chung F., Magure T., Mambondiyani L., Manjengwa J., Matshe I., Munemo N., Mtisi S, Nxele M, and Sibanda D.M. (2009) Moving forward in Zimbabwe—reducing poverty and promoting growth. The University of Manchester Brooks World Poverty Institute. Christensen J.H., Hewitson B., Busuioc A., Chen A., Gao X., Held I., Jones R., Kolli R.K., Kwon W.T., Laprise R., Magan˜a Rueda V., Mearns L., Mene´ndez C.G., Ra¨isa¨nen J., Rinke A., Sarr A. and Whetton P. (2007) Regional climate projections. In: Solomon S., Qin D., Manning M., Chen Z., Marquis M., Averyt K.B., Tignor M., Miller H.L. (eds) Climate Change 2007: The physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 847–940. Cooper P.J.M., Dimes J., Rao K.P.C., Shapiro B., Shiferaw B., and Twomlow S. (2008). Coping better with current climatic variability in the rain-fed farming systems of sub-Saharan Africa: An essential first step in adapting to future climate change? Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 126, 24–35 FAO/WFP, 2010 Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to Zimbabwe. Website: http://www.polity.org.za/article/faowfp-crop-and-food-security-assessment-mission-to- zimbabwe-august-2010-2010-08-11. Hulme M., Doherty R., Ngara T., New M. and Lister D. (2001) African climate change: 1900 – 2100. Climate Research. 17, 145-168. Kurukulasuriya P, and Mendelsohn R. (2008) Crop switching as a strategy for adapting to climate change. African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. 2, 105–125. Ministry of Agriculture (2007) Agricultural Statistical Bulletin, Government of Zimbabwe. Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development (2012) Second Round Crop and 6 Transforming rural livelihoods in Africa: How can land and water management contribute to enhanced food security and address climate change adaptation and mitigation? Nakuru, Kenya. 20-25 October 2013 Joint proceedings of the 27th Soil Science Society of East Africa and the 6th African Soil Science Society

Livestock Assessment Report, Government of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe. Mazvimavi K. and Twomlow S. (2009) Socioeconomic and institutional factors influencing adoption of conservation farming by vulnerable households in Zimbabwe. Agricultural Systems. Agricultural Systems 101, 20–29. Schlenker, W. and D.B. Lobell, 2010: Robust negative impacts of climate change on African agriculture. Environmental Research Letters, 5(1). Tazeze A., Haji J., and Ketema M. (2012) Climate Change Adaptation Strategies of Smallholder Farmers: The Case of Babilie District, East Harerghe Zone of Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development. Vol.3, No.14, 13pp. Thornton P.K., Jones P.G., Ericksen P.J. and Challinor A.J. (2011) Agriculture and food systems in sub- Saharan Africa in a 4 C+ world. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A.369, 117-136 Zinyengere N., Crespo O., Hachigonta S. and Tadross M. (2014) Local impacts of climate change on agronomic practices on dry land crops in Southern Africa. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 197, 1–10.

7 Transforming rural livelihoods in Africa: How can land and water management contribute to enhanced food security and address climate change adaptation and mitigation? Nakuru, Kenya. 20-25 October 2013