Evaluation benefits of rainwater harvesting using infiltration pits in rainfed cropping systems: Preliminary results from Rushinga district, Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT Occurrence of dry spells during the rainfall season is the major cause of crop failure in semi-arid areas. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is regarded as a viable option for mitigating these dry spells. However, benefits of most RWH systems have not been adequately quantified. The objective of this study was to assess maize crop yield and soil moisture content benefits of RWH using infiltration pits. Field experiments were set up using a split-plot design in Northern Zimbabwe. Major plots were distinguished by presence/absence of infiltration pits in the contour ridge (CR) channel and minor plots by the tillage method which was at two levels namely conventional tillage (CT) and planting pits (PP). Soil moisture content was measured during 2010/11 rainy season using the TDR and gravimetric methods at 0.20-m depth intervals to 2.0 m. Soil moisture content trends analyses, ANOVA and LSD test for maize yield were done using SPSS for Windows. Results showed no significant maize yield differences (p>0.05) in major treatments, but CT outperformed PP (

Temporal rainfall trend analysis in different agro-ecological regions of southern Africa

Rainfall is a major driver of food production in rainfed smallholder farming systems. This study was conducted to assess linear trends in (i) different daily rainfall amounts (<5, 5–10, 11–20, 21–40 and >40 mm∙day-1), and (ii) monthly and seasonal rainfall amounts. Drought was determined using the rainfall variability index. Daily rainfall data were derived from 18 meteorological stations in southern Africa. Daily rainfall was dominated by <5 mm∙day-1 followed by 5–10 mm∙day -1. Three locations experienced increasing linear trends of <5 mm∙day-1 amounts and two others in sub-humid region had increases in the >40 mm day -1 category. Semi-arid location experienced increasing trends in <5 and 5–10 mm∙day-1 events. A significant linear trend in seasonal rainfall occurred at two locations with decreasing rainfall (1.24 and 3 mm∙season-1). A 3 mm∙season-1 decrease in seasonal rainfall was experienced under semi-arid conditions. There were no apparent linear trends in monthly and seasonal rainfall at 15 of the 18 locations studied. Drought frequencies varied with location and were 50% or higher during the November–March growing season. Rainfall trends were location and agro-ecology specific, but most of the locations studied did not experience significant changes between the 1900s and 2000s

Integrated crop‐livestock technologies for improved production: Lessons from ZimCLIFS project

Australian Centre for International Agricultural Researc

Projecting the Contribution of Provitamin A Maize Biofortification and Other Nutrition Interventions to the Nutritional Adequacy and Cost of Diets in Rural Zimbabwe

Background Evidence of the effectiveness of biofortified maize with higher provitamin A (PVA) to address vitamin A deficiency in rural Africa remains scant. Objectives This study projects the impact of adopting PVA maize for a diversity of households in an area typical of rural Zimbabwe and models the cost and composition of diets adequate in vitamin A. Methods Household-level weighed food records were generated from 30 rural households during a week in April and November 2021. Weekly household intakes were calculated, as well as indicative costs of diets using data from market surveys. The impact of PVA maize adoption was modeled assuming all maize products contained observed vitamin A concentrations. The composition and cost of the least expensive indicative diets adequate in vitamin A were calculated using linear programming. Results Very few households would reach adequate intake of vitamin A with the consumption of PVA maize. However, from a current situation of 33%, 50%–70% of households were projected to reach ≤50% of their requirements (the target of PVA), even with the modest vitamin A concentrations achieved on-farm (mean of 28.3 μg RAE per 100 g). This proportion would increase if higher concentrations recorded on-station were achieved. The estimated daily costs of current diets (mean ± standard deviation) were USD 1.43 ± 0.59 in the wet season and USD 0.96 ± 0.40 in the dry season. By comparison, optimization models suggest that diets adequate in vitamin A could be achieved at daily costs of USD 0.97 and USD 0.79 in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. Conclusions The adoption of PVA maize would bring a substantial improvement in vitamin A intake in rural Zimbabwe but should be combined with other interventions (e.g., diet diversification) to fully address vitamin A deficienc