CHIPINGE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Gertrude Siduna appears to have little appetite for the maize growing season.

Rather than preparing her land in Zimbabwe’s arid Chipinge district for the crop that has fed her family for generations, this 49-year-old woman – bitter over repeated droughts that have decimated yields – is turning her thoughts towards the prices and agricultural techniques of chili peppers.

“I pick my peppers from the fields and take them to the processing center near my home. It’s simple,” she said. She received about $400 from the drought-tolerant crop and plans to grow more. “Chili peppers are much better than corn.”

Siduna has been growing chili peppers for a year since she was trained through a climate-smart agriculture program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The program was designed to build the resilience of smallholder farmers to climate change-induced droughts, many of which require food assistance from the government or international donors. But as climate change worsens droughts and floods around the world, government agencies and local operators have found that aid efforts can still be made more effective and financially sustainable.

Experts say wealthy countries like the United States, which have historically been the largest contributors to global warming emissions, have a responsibility to fund humanitarian aid in countries suffering the most severe and severe effects. serious.

The United States is the world’s largest international donor of food aid, reaching more than 60 million people in about 70 countries each year with direct contributions in the form of food or through programs to help farmers get by. adapt to extreme weather conditions. USAID plans to mobilize $150 billion for climate-related initiatives, according to the agency’s climate strategy report.

In Zimbabwe, around 7.7 million people, almost half the country’s population, are in need of food aid, according to government and United Nations figures. Frequent droughts decimate people’s ability to feed themselves, a phenomenon made worse by climate change.

Water-intensive white corn has been the staple crop of choice for Zimbabwe’s rural farmers since its introduction to much of sub-Saharan Africa by the Portuguese in the 17th century.

But with the threat of drought, some, like Siduna, now think it may be better to buy this staple rather than grow it.

“I don’t run out of cornmeal, I just use my income from chili peppers to buy it from local stores,” she said.

Unlike corn or other crops she typically grows, chili peppers do well in hotter, drier conditions. And since they’re in stores across the United States, they’re offering cash rewards.

“You have to continually pray for rain if you grow corn,” said the mother of three. “The crop just can’t handle the heat. But the peppers can. You’re assured of a harvest and the market is readily available.”

Other crops like milleta cereal tolerant of poor soils, drought and harsh growing conditions, is also gaining traction under climate resilience programs.

In Chiredzi, southeastern Zimbabwe, Kenias Chikamhi, 54, describes growing maize as “a gamble… whereas with millet you have a good chance of getting at least something.” Millet was the country’s staple food before the introduction of corn.

But not all the corn is gone yet. Zimbabwe’s agriculture ministry says it plans to increase the area under maize to 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres) using agricultural techniques such as digging holes in dry land and mulching to cover growing crops, as well as planting drought-resistant varieties that can cope better. with the lack of rain.

The country harvested about 700,000 tonnes of corn this year, a 70% drop from the previous season and far short of the 2 million tonnes needed each year for humans and livestock.

Agricultural techniques are also evolving.

Another USAID initiative created a community garden in the village of Mutandahwe, where Siduna lives, irrigated by three small solar panels. The panels pump water from a borehole to storage tanks that are connected to garden taps by pipes, transforming the one-hectare plot of vegetables like onions, kale and cowpeas into an island of green lush.

Solar-powered community gardens have spread across the district and much of the country’s drylands.

“We have had difficulty walking long distances to fetch water from the rivers, and currently the rivers are dry,” said Muchaneta Mutowa, secretary of the plot. The plot is shared by 60 members, each growing vegetables that they can eat and sell.

“We now have easy access to reliable water flowing from the taps (and) we are not paying for the sun,” she said. And the money earned from vegetable sales goes a long way toward paying basic family expenses such as school fees.