Two workshops in Polokwane

Drought resilience and Sensors for measuring soil moisture

Two workshops were held in Polokwane at the LDA on June 3-4. They introduced the project on local-scale early warning systems of drought.

The Drought Resilience workshop more specifically dealt with identifying existing seasonal forecasts and natural signs, their uses as well as shortcomings in terms of format, dissemination, local relevance and reliability. Identified local signs included changes in plant condition e.g. abundance of certain indigenous plants and nuts and time of flowering; animal behaviour of donkeys, birds, cattle, insects; and the behaviour and appearance of wind, stars and moon. Signs as well as weather forecasts are used to determined which crops and crop varieties to plant, when to plant, how much to plant, irrigation scheduling, if and when to gather fodder and reduce livestock numbers, land preparation and disease management. Shortcomings in existing systems include the lack of local reliability and relevance of seasonal forecasts because they give vague and unclear classifications and are disseminated in scientific language and coarse format. Locally relevant recommendations also need to accompany the seasonal forecasts. Discussions were also initiated on which drought indicators are most useful which include precipitation, temperature, onset and amount of rainfall and soil moisture.

• More detailed information can be found at: Notes from the drought resilience workshop.

The Sensor workshop specifically introduced the sensor system to be used within the project and went over their description, cost, installation, measurement and transfer of data and maintenance. Discussions were held on current soil moisture sensors, how data could best be transferred, location criteria and possibilities, responsibility for uploading information and maintenance of equipment. Information was also shared about lessons learnt and expertise from existing field trials taking place in South Africa, Malawi and Kenya.