Rains destroy crops, farmers helpless
Pini Bothoko | Wednesday March 12, 2014 16:37
The country heeded the President’s call for prayers, which were held in churches, Kgotlas and even in private.
Now it is raining cats and dogs. The whole of northern Botswana is so rain-soaked it will perhaps take another divine intervention to stop it. If it does not rain heavily it drizzles the whole day, disturbing normal life as people have resorted to barricading themselves inside their homes. The rains are destroying crops, which around this time of the year are being readied for harvest.
A fodder production farmer, Mpaphi Phumaphi 61, whose farm is a few kilometres from Chadibe village commented that the rains over the past weeks have not been good for the crops.
He said that continuous rains are not good as crops need sunlight and time to dry in order to be harvested.
He said that even though he specialises in fodder production he had a few hectares in which he ploughed maize, melons and sweet reeds, which are destroyed by heavy rains and strong winds. He said watermelons on his farm have rotted while beans have been washed away by water.
“There is no movement in the fields. The recent rains have shocked me as a farmer. Water has covered the crops, and they are certainly going to suffocate if they have not suffocated already. “Lab-lab does not need too much water to grow. It can be ploughed in arid conditions but when it’s like this, it grows rapidly and needs to be harvested time and again. But it cannot be harvested when it’s raining,” he said.
With over 60 hectares of lab-lab ploughed on his farm, he said that the sad part is that lab-lab is ‘over-flowering’ everyday.
“We are just waiting hopeful that the rains will stop for at least a week so that we can start harvesting. If not, it might end up being destroyed but as consolation, I will still use it as supplementary feeds for my livestock,” said Phumaphi.
He said for those whose fields are on sandy soils, their crops have turned a yellowish colour and grow tall without grains or flowering. A well-known farmer in Borolong village Dingongorego Charles described the recent rains as ‘tragic’.
“This is sad. For the past years we waited patiently for rain but now that there is too much of it, it is destroying our crops. I ploughed sorghum and its grains are germinating without being harvested. My beans have been washed away by water and most of my crops have turned a yellowish colour,” said Charles, who added that his money has gone down the drain, as the watermelons are all rotten due to too much water.
“Only after the rains have stopped will I then be in a position to tell you if I will be able to harvest anything. At the moment it is a huge problem. I am stuck at home, as it rains non-stop,” he said on Monday.