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OVER 10 000 households in parts of Buhera, Chiredzi and Chimanimani stand to benefit from the scaling up climate change adaptation project launched on Wednesday in Mutare.
The project funded by various Non-Governmental Organisations, Oxfam, United Nations Development Programme, Southern Africa Food and Climate Justice Campaign and Plan International is in partnership with Government.
Oxfam will be the main implementer of the four-year project which has a budget of $4 million.
Officially launching the programme on behalf of the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate, Mr Prince Mupazviriho, the director of Finance, Administration and Human Resources in the ministry, Mr Peter Mudzamiri, said Government viewed climate change as a serious issue.
“Zimbabwe was among the first few countries to sign and ratify the climate change convention and has acceded to the Kyto Protocol.
“To further prove our commitment to the climate change scourge, Government has concluded the development of the National Climate Change Response Strategy which will guide interventions in the country.
“Addressing climate change requires close co-operation among all of us. We are grateful to our international partners for this project we are launching today,” said Mr Mudzamiri.
Mr Mudzamiri added that the increasing frequencies of climate extremes particularly drought and the shifting rainfall patterns were a major threat to the economy and the livelihoods in the rural communities.
He said the NCCRS would therefore highlight the importance of mainstreaming adaptation in the country’s development frameworks and implementing adaptive measures to safeguard vulnerable sectors and rural livelihoods.
“That is why we now have a full-fledged Climate Change Management department directed by Mr Washington Zhakata, which will effectively expedite the country’s climate change concerns,” he said.
Oxfam country director, Mr Jan Vossen, said climate change was a major risk to any country’s developmental prospects and a global reality that would stay for a long time that needed immediate intervention.
“Climate change is high on the agenda of Oxfam in Zimbabwe and our strategic agenda in Southern Africa.
“We realised that one of the most severe risks that Zimbabwe is facing apart from its economic woes was the negative impact that climate change risks have on agriculture and hence on rural communities in Zimbabwe.
“Climate change had for a long time not been recognised as an important issue for development despite the fact that it was already negatively impacting on the development efforts of government and stakeholders.
“Therefore climate change adaptation has to be high on the strategic agendas of government and its development partners,” said Mr Vossen.
The scaling up climate change adaptation project manager from Oxfam, Dr Leonard Unganai, said the project would target smallholder farmers, but 70 percent would be women headed farmers.
He said the project was a follow-up to the 2008-2012 UNDP funded programme in Chiredzi that worked with 2000 farmers focusing on how to deal with drought and impact of climate change.
Dr Unganai added that with experience from the UNDP funded Chiredzi programme the scaling up climate change adaptation project would primarily focus on how communities in the dry Region 5 could adapt to climate change especially when erratic rains plunge.
“We will therefore focus on water resources, agricultural productivity and other opportunities coming from shifting rainfall patterns in the dry regions.
“We will also look into how markets can be created for small grains that are being encouraged in the areas so as to create sustainability.
“Most farmers complained that there was no market for small grains like sorghum and millet as livelihood projects,” said Dr Unganai.
Online Reporter