Crops Ideal For Drought Seasons
The general perception is that all farmers love the rainy seasons as they don’t have to worry about watering their plants, But the most unfortunate turn of events here in Botswana is that our rainfalls seasons do not last that long due to the fact that our country is semi-arid. That means its dry most of the year and the rains are unpredictable. That might lead farmers to believe that they have to do nothing most of the time as they wait for ample rains. However, that’s not the case as there are crops which can survive in those harsh conditions.
A qualified agriculture research expert holding a BSC Degree in agriculture from BUAN, Mr Oaitse Monei said due to lack of knowledge about the dry seasons cropping, most of the land is left useless for almost half of the year awaiting the next rain seasons to come. “That itself leads to loss and low and insufficiency of food here in Botswana leading to importing food from neighbouring countries more especially South Africa’’, said Monei.
Mr Monei said its high time Batswana commercial farmers consider plants which can withstand dry season. One of those plants is a watermelon. He said water-melons grow well both in the rain forest regions and in the dry savannah regions, but foliar diseases are less destructive in the drier zones. “This is because it requires warm climate and relatively long growing season. The temperature of the climate has to be hot in order to avoid poor germination which is why the largest production of the crop comes from Kgalagadi where the suitable climate is found”, said Mr Monei.
Another crop that Mr Monei recommend for this dry season is the sweet sorghum (Ntshe). He said this crop is suited to tropical, sub-tropical, temperate and even semi-arid climates, but grows particularly well in warm, dry conditions with good irrigation. Sweet sorghum is well suited to the same climate as sugarcane but has a higher tolerance to drought due to the heavy wax layer and small stomata.
Pulses beans is one of the most sustainable crop in dry season by the virtue of the fact that it has long roots that can penetrate deep into the soil. ‘’ Pulses are annual crops that yield between one and 12 grains or seeds. The term “pulses” is limited to crops harvested solely as dry grains, which differentiates them from other vegetable crops that are harvested while still green’’, explained Monei.
Lablab, a type of beans is another plant that is recommended due to the fact that its remarkably adaptable to wide areas under diverse climatic conditions such as arid, semi-arid, sub-tropical and humid regions where temperatures vary between 22°C–35°C.Being a legume, it can fix atmospheric nitrogen to the extent of 170 kg/ha besides leaving enough crop residues to enrich the soils with organic matter. It is a drought tolerant crop and grows well in dry lands with limited rainfall. The crop prefers relatively cool seasons with the sowing done in July-August. It starts flowering in short days and continues indeterminately in spring.
Nonetheless, to increase crop production, Mr Monei has advised farmers to get proper seeds from a genuine suppliers. He noted that farmers must also be familiar with the period taken for the crops to mature as some take a long time and end up being killed by frost.
