We warmly thank all participants for their time and valuable input, both farmers and LDA staff.
In total, 39 farmers participated in the
discussions and workshop exercises.
The farmers
said that it was useful to get the local early warning forecasts in Sept-Oct
2014. Because they heard it would be dry some planted in rows to save water. Others sold their cattle. Others said
they can use the information to plan soil preparation and known which types of
seeds to use. Since they heard that the coming summer
season would not be that good for rainfall, they planted at first rain. They
also considered using drought-resistant seeds, which they do not use in good
rainfall years. In spite believing the year would be wet, they anyway planted
on the entire area available to them, They planted maize, groundnuts and
vegetables (cowpeas, spinach and tomatoes) to see what plants would make it.
Other farmers said they did not take the forecast into account but just
ploughed and planted as they always do.
Some farmers said that he signs in nature
had also indicated to them that it would be a dry year. The moon was not
covered with thin cloud during the night and the clouds during the day were not
chased away by wind, both indicating a dry season. Others said they saw fruits
on the mountain with a normal amount of fruits, not extra and swallows were flying
about but not in large number. These signs indicated a normal rainfall year.
For these reasons, they are happy to get
the forecast information. Some also said that the signs in nature are not
always correct or show conflicting information (as indicated above).
Activities performed in 2014-2015
25/39 planted drought-resistant maize
2/12 reduced their herds
3/14 bought supplementary livestock fodder
0/11 stored water for livestock
28/28 stored water for household use
29/29 mulched
15/15 have indigenous cattle (of those
with cattle)
7/329 ploughed early (Many planted in
early Dec after a good rain) .
2/11 bought medicine for their goats in
case of illness.
19/19 prepared for crop disease outbreaks
Timeline 2014-2015
Feb: Some sold their cattle already seeing signs that indicated dry
conditions to come.
Aug-Sept: Waiting for rain.
Oct-Nov: Water is around but grasslands are exhausted. Cattle are getting thin. Rainfall
came late. Farmers started planting from Oct until Feb.
Nov: Some ploughed in this month and planted maize and groundnuts.
Dec: Experienced first rain and they ploughed and planted in the first week.
The grazing improved a little bit after
some rain. Some planted maize now due to late rains.
Jan: Grazing available, but little rain. Between Jan-May they took even
their household water from the river, not from wells because of municipality
water restrictions. Many realized now that it would be a very dry year.
Feb-Mar: Calves were dying of a previously unknown illness directly after birth.
One had chickens that got sick at this time, but after buying medicine they
recovered. Many gave up hope that there would be anything to harvest. From
Mar-June they planted gardens but there was no water to irrigate. Some had
problems with pests but were not able to afford pesticides.
Apr-May: Yields ranged from 1-3 bags of
maize (80kg bags). At this point, they have very little reserve maize from the
previous (wetter) year. Savings from last year helped a lot but if they get
another bad year next year it will be very bad.
The activities
that farmers pointed out as giving most benefit according to the effort required in terms of time and money were: using
drought-tolerant seeds and ploughing with tractors. Few tractors are however
available. Water harvesting and mulching are free of costs but both a lot of work.
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