Decadal spatio-temporal dynamics of drought in semi-arid farming regions of Zimbabwe between 1990 and 2020: a case of Mberengwa and Zvishavane districts

Drought severity and frequency are increasing in tropical regions and its occurrence is not uniform in space and time. The study assessed the spatio-temporal dynamics of agrometeorological drought in Mberengwa and Zvishavane districts between 1990 and 2020. An empirical research design was adopted in this study. GIS and remote sensing techniques were used to determine and analyze agricultural drought conditions and the standardized precipitation generator was used to compute SPI for meteorological drought monitoring and analysis. Microsoft Excel 2011 was adopted for the analysis of drought coverage and performing the Mann-Kendall trend test for precipitation trend analysis. Results indicated that the area covered by drought declined between the 1990 and 2000 and 2001-2010 decades before increasing during the 2011-2020 decade. Results indicated significant spatial dynamics of drought severity and frequency in Mberengwa and Zvishavane districts and the majority of wards experienced increased frequency of severe droughts during the 2011-2020 decade. It was highlighted that meteorological drought was not evenly distributed across all decades. Dry conditions in the first months (October and November) of the rainy season have been indicated during the 1990-2000 decade, followed by wetter conditions during the 2001-2010 decade and comparatively drier conditions in the same months during the 2011-2020 decade. This indicated the late onset of the rainfall season during the 1990-2000 and 2011-2020 decades compared to the 2001-2010 decade. It was also shown that rainfall cessation was earlier during the 2001-2010 and 2011-2020 decades and late during the 1990-2000 decade. The study concludes that drought has increased both in severity and frequency in Mberengwa and Zvishavane districts; hence, there is a need for more support to drought resilience-building initiatives in these areas. The government of Zimbabwe is advised to set up climate research centers in all provinces of the country to improve the availability of climate change-related data which is useful when addressing the impacts of climate change.