There are always hardship periods when all farmers find it difficult to sustain profitable production. Sometimes farmers experience unpredictable weather or climatic changes such as long droughts, hailstorms, and excessive rains usually resulting in floods. Such disasters often destroy crops and animals. The soil may itself get washed away exposing bare rocks which are useless for crop production. Natural disasters cause reduced incomes to farmers.
The calamities tend to affect poor households more because they tend to have small pieces of land and have no savings to rely on with regard to purchasing inputs for rehabilitating their small farms. For people who take agricultural loans from financial institutions such disasters are a big drawback as often there is not even enough money to buy sufficient food to feed their families.
Natural disasters are not under our control but there are a few things farmers that we can do to cope with them. Harvesting and storing large amounts of rainwater can be useful during periods of rain scarcity.
Planting trees in or around the farm may minimise rainstorm destruction of crops because the trees will act as windbreakers.
Pests and diseases kill crops and livestock and they are a constant worry to the farmers. Illnesses such as foot and mouth disease, swine fever, and poultry diseases often cause untold losses to farmers. In some cases pests and parasites can wipe out entire herds and crop fields.
Some of the crop diseases such as cassava brown streak, banana bacterial disease, and coffee wilt disease are slow killers but extremely dangerous because they spread quickly and have no known cure. The best the farmers can do is to follow the directives of agricultural services extension officers. It is important to have all livestock vaccinated against livestock killer diseases and to obey all quarantine regulations. Something that can be devastating to agriculture but which is seldom talked about is political conflicts. Farmers must be on the lookout and avoid all activities that can lead to such problems as civil wars and rebel activities.
Civil wars can cause massive displacement of communities and fleeing to foreign countries to become refugees. Unlike doctors or teachers who will easily get jobs in the host countries, the farmers cannot easily flee with their coffee gardens and herds of livestock. Civil unrest makes it hard for people to engage in profitable farming because of the general insecurity.
