Prime
Rain availability and farming
Michael Ssali
What you need to know:
- If it is important to keep farm income and expenditure records, it should be equally important for the farmer to take note of each day’s weather observations
As farmers one of our major preoccupations is to observe the environment, particularly in terms of rainfall availability and distribution, in order to manage crop and livestock production.
The big weakness however is that only very few farmers, if any, keep a regular written record of the observations in order for them to calculate the average monthly or annual rainfall of the area where they live or to tell more accurately when the rains are more likely to begin or to end.
They often are not even in a position to remember well the years when they had the most devastating rainstorms or the most severe droughts.
If it is important to keep farm income and expenditure records, it should be equally important for the farmer to take note of each day’s weather observations and to keep at least a brief written record for possible future reference.
It may not be so easy for every farmer to purchase a rain gauge and such weather measuring equipment but a simple brief description of what took place regarding the weather each particular day would come in handy when you want to get a general picture of the weather pattern of a place before making an important decision in the management of your crops and livestock production occupation.
Water is life and rainfall is important for crops’ growth. However the farmer must know how it is distributed over a long period in order to assess what crops to grow and when to plant them.
It does not make sense to plant a crop like coffee or banana in an area which gets intensive rainfall in only three months of the year.
Such crops are only suitable for areas that generally receive rain throughout the year. Water is death to crops when we get it in the form of floods and severe rainstorms causing runoff that takes away all the top fertile soil and uproots crops.
Farmers who keep weather records are better placed to take precautions against such events.
When a heavy rainstorm occurs gardens which are surrounded with trees as windbreaks may suffer less damage.
Where farmers growing crops on sloppy gardens keep the soil covered with grass their gardens are less affected by soil erosion. Such farmers are very active in rainwater harvesting and storage. They make hay and silage for feeding their animals during times of rain scarcity.
Mr Michael Ssali is a veteran journalist,
