Southern African Farmers Use Agroecology to Prepare for El Niño

As Southern African farmers prepare their fields for the 2026/27 agricultural season, climate forecasts point to below-normal rainfall and above-average temperatures driven by a strengthening El Niño.

While forecasters warn of potential drought, extreme heat, and challenging growing conditions across countries including Zimbabwe and Zambia, rural communities are turning to sustainable agricultural practices to protect their livelihoods.

In Nyanga, east of Harare, farmer Dudzai Matsapa works under a scorching sun digging small, shallow pits across his field. Instead of ploughing the entire land, I only disrupt the specific spot where plants will grow, Matsapa told RFI at his farm.

He fills these potholes with organic manure made from a mixture of cow dung and dried grass left to decompose in a pit for several weeks. Since 2021, Matsapa has embraced agroecology techniques such as zero tillage and planted drought-resistant crops including short-term varieties of maize, groundnuts, sunflower, sorghum, and millet.

Farmers in Zambia are similarly adapting. In the village of Liboma in Sesheke, Nswau Kufanga grows a local, early-maturity maize seed variety known as kafwamba. The type of maize that I grow is an early maturity, she told RFI.

I can still get a better harvest during drought because it does not need much water and it matures in a few months compared to other varieties that need more time. Kufanga also grows cassava, groundnuts, millet, and sorghum, uses intercropping, and applies ashes from her kitchen to control pests.

Agroecology encompasses sustainable farming practices that improve soil health, conserve water, and increase biodiversity. A report published by ActionAid showed that agroecology can deliver comparable or greater yields than industrial agriculture, highlighting a 41 percent average rise in cereal yields from rotating legumes with cereals across Sub-Saharan Africa.

In Nyanga, Netsai Dzodzo utilizes intercropping—growing two or more crop species simultaneously in the same field during a single growing season—to secure a bumper harvest. This practice repels pests, reduces erosion by holding soil together, lowers moisture evaporation, and improves soil health. Dzodzo also produces bio-chemicals from garlic, chilli, and other plants to control pests by disrupting insect feeding and reproduction instead of using manmade pesticides.

The Southern African Development Community released a regional climate outlook indicating an increased likelihood of below-normal rainfall between October and December 2026 across southern Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, much of South Africa, and parts of Angola, Eswatini, and Lesotho, with drier conditions persisting into early 2027.

The World Meteorological Organization announced in September that the El Niño climate pattern is strengthening rapidly in the Pacific Ocean, with forecasters predicting it will peak around late 2026 and continue until at least February next year.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation says early action is necessary to protect livelihoods against failed crops. Alongside soil moisture conservation, weed control, and erosion-control measures such as contour farming, agricultural guidance stresses that input costs and crop choices require careful planning to prevent heavy financial losses if crops fail or yields fall below expectations.