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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Reporter

THE country is losing an incredible 200 million tonnes of soil on arable land every year through erosion and siltation, a development that resulted in the Government coming up with mitigatory measures to address the situation.

The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, through the Department of Mechanisation, Engineering and Soil Conservation is conducting country-wide consultative meetings with various stakeholders gathering inputs on the formulation of the Soil and Water Conservation Policy.

In line with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), the Government has started the process of formulating a National Soil and Water Conservation Policy that will guide the protection and management of water bodies and land.

The policy will guide the protection and management of water bodies as well as arable and non-arable land. ­ The crafting of the policy comes soon a‑ er the Government launched the soil and water conservation blitz in June this year.

The blitz is based on the realisation that as part of a trajectory of attaining Vision 2030, improving agricultural production and productivity for the attainment of national and household food and nutrition security remains a top priority.

In an interview on the sidelines of a soil and water conservation policy draft consultative meeting in Bulawayo on Friday, Chief Director in the Department of Mechanisation, Engineering and Soil Conservation Engineer Edwin Zimunga said there is a need to adapt to the effects of climate change.

“What we need now is for us to really adapt and make sure that we maintain the thrust of production and productivity and to do more of conservation, especially in light of the little rain that we get or even the good rains so that we make sure that our agriculture continues on the right trajectory,” he said.

“One of the realisations in terms of the loss of yield is that we no longer have our nutritional soil, which is the topsoil because it has been washed away. As a country, on average, we are losing about 50 tonnes of soil on arable land per hectare every year due to soil erosion.”

Zimbabwe has 4 million hectares of arable land. Eng Zimunga said the goal of the policy is to have a sustainable, resilient and diverse agriculture sector to ensure food and nutrition security. The draft policy is expected to be completed by end of August 2023.

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently warned that the world loses 24 billion tonnes of fertile land every year.

He said the degradation in land quality is responsible for a reduction in the national domestic product of up to eight per cent every year.

The United Nations has predicted that by 2025, two[1]thirds of the world will be living under “water-stressed” conditions – when demand outstrips supply during certain periods with 1,8 billion people experiencing absolute water scarcity.

Migration is likely to increase as a result of desertification, with the UN estimating that, by 2045, it will be responsible for the displacement of some 135 million people.

Eng Zimunga said soil loss results in streams, rivers and dams drying up, and in some instances, water is buried under the soil.

“As a result, we are losing several dams, and for instance, if you look at Lake Chivero whose dam wall height is about 40 metres, you will note that about three metres of that have been taken away by siltation,” he said.

“Siltation and soil losses are fundamental issues that we have to address as a country and this is why the thrust now is to say how do we tackle that, hence the envisaged soil and water conservation policy.”

The policy will help curtail losses in terms of water bodies which are important in climate-proofing the country’s agriculture.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the total capacity of the 2 168 dams in the Zimbabwean component of the Limpopo basin where Bulawayo’s supply dams are located, has declined by about 29 million cubic meters due to siltation.

Eng Zimunga said uncontrolled industrial and mining activities taking place along river courses have led to the destruction of rivers.

“The moment such waterways are destroyed, threats to underground water become real resulting in the drying up of boreholes because of the seepage of water due to increased erosion,” he said.

Speaking during the meeting, one of the delegates, Mr Tatenda Manganda, a legal expert, said the policy as a document had no legal force in terms of the law hence the need for a Statutory Instrument to be gazetted to support the enforcement of the policy and prosecution offenders.

Mr Manganda said the country is likely to be heading towards total disaster if action is not taken to curtail land degradation in light of the effects of climate change.

With the land use sector representing almost 25 per cent of total global emissions, the restoration of degraded land has the potential to store up to 3 million tons of carbon annually.

“From the consultations that we have so far done,stakeholders are agreeing that there is a need to have something legally binding so that whoever violates the dictates of the policy is prosecuted. We also want the policy to have some regulatory lines that will make it mandatory for farmers to practice conservation agriculture on their pieces of land,” he said.

—@skhumoyo2000.