Mavhura Emmanuel, Manatsa Desmond, Mushore Terence
Department of Geography, Bindura University of Science Education, Zimbabwe.
Jamba. 2015 Mar 11;7(1):144. doi: 10.4102/jamba.v7i1.144. eCollection 2015.
Small-scale rain-fed agriculture is the main livelihood in arid to semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The area is characterised by erratic rainfall and frequent droughts, making the capacity for coping with temporal water shortages essential for smallholder farmers. Focusing on the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe, this study investigates the impact of drought on food security and the strategies used by smallholder farmers to cope with drought. We used meteorological data and interviews to examine the rainfall variability in the study area and the drought-coping mechanisms employed by smallholder famers respectively. The results show that there are various strategies used by smallholder farmers to cope with the impact of drought. These strategies include drought-tolerant crop production, crop variety diversification, purchasing cereals through asset sales, non-governmental organisations' food aid and gathering wild fruit. However, consecutive droughts have resulted in high food insecurity and depletion of household assets during droughts. Smallholder farmers in the valley have also resorted to a number of measures taken before, during and after the drought. Still, these strategies are not robust enough to cope with this uncertainty.
小规模雨养农业是撒哈拉以南非洲干旱至半干旱地区的主要生计方式。该地区降雨无常且旱灾频发，这使得应对临时性水资源短缺的能力对于小农户而言至关重要。本研究以津巴布韦的赞比西河谷为重点，调查干旱对粮食安全的影响以及小农户用以应对干旱的策略。我们分别利用气象数据和访谈来研究该研究区域的降雨变异性以及小农户采用的抗旱机制。结果表明，小农户采用了多种策略来应对干旱的影响。这些策略包括耐旱作物种植、作物品种多样化、通过出售资产购买谷物、非政府组织的粮食援助以及采集野生水果。然而，连续的旱灾导致了严重的粮食不安全状况以及旱灾期间家庭资产的耗尽。该河谷的小农户在旱前、旱中及旱后也采取了一系列措施。尽管如此，这些策略仍不足以有力地应对这种不确定性。
