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Fungai Lupande
Mash Central Bureau
Jennifer Nyamakawo (34) is a young widow in Nyarupara Village in Mbire, Mashonaland Central province, raising seven children alone.
Of her children, the youngest is 21 months old.
Jennifer’s husband, Bornface Dhirau (39), was killed by a crocodile while fishing along the Zambezi River.
He is not the only killed by crocodiles so far; dozens of people in Kanyemba lose their lives yearly to crocodile attacks while fishing along the Zambezi or Mwazamutanda Rivers.
After the death of her husband, life has become difficult for Jennifer, who survives on manual jobs.
This saw her children dropping out of school due to inability to pay fees. Dhirau had two more wives, each with four children.
Fishing is one of the microeconomic activities in Mbire, and villages close to the Zambezi Valley are often involved in fishing for household consumption or selling.
The circumstances mean that the fisherman spends more time in the dangerous waters searching for fish.
A fisherman, Mr Emmanuel Kabareti, from Nyaruparo Village under Chief Chapoto in Mbire, had veins on his middle finger on the left hand severed by a crocodile.
He was looking for fishing worms close to the river when the incident happened in 2020.
“Since the incident, my finger was seriously injured and it no longer bends. I can no longer fish or do manual jobs to fend for my family,” he said.
“I was trained on fish ponds but we are waiting for the establishment of the project in our ward,” he said.
People in Mbire depend on the rivers for their livelihood; that is fishing and agriculture.
To this end, the Lower Guruve Development Association, through the Zambezi Valley Biodiversity Programme, has established fishing ponds for the Chapoto and VaDoma communities to take people away from the Zambezi River.
The Kantuweka fishing scheme, which started in 2020, is now producing 15kg of fish per day.
It started with 20 members but is now left with seven after the others abandoned the projects which they deem laborious.
Out of the seven, five are women and two are males.
They have set up nutritional gardens nearby.
Ms Rosta Katandika said the struggle to get relish was forcing people to fish along the Zambezi River or set snares in the forests.
“The fish pond has provided relish for surrounding villages. Women cannot fish on the Zambezi River and the fish pond has provided easy fish for our families,” she said.
“Those who come to buy fish also buy vegetables, giving us an income to share as members of the scheme.”
Ward 1 Councillor, Christmas Kachasu, said human-wildlife conflicts were rife in Mbire and several initiatives had been adopted to reduce it.
The district has a Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) programme whose proceeds go towards medical and funeral bills for victims of human-wildlife conflicts.
He said fish ponds and dams were answers to the challenges they are facing because the initiatives separate people and animals.
“In a year, we recorded six deaths to lion attacks, crocodiles, elephants, and hippopotamus attacks also account for the statistics.
“We are grateful for the fish ponds which are taking people away from the river.
“We are appealing for the fish ponds to be established in all the wards so that people in other wards don’t find a reason to go to the Zambezi River in search of fish,” said Cllr Kachasu.
Chief Chapoto said they are situated close to the Zambezi River, which is infested by hippos and crocodiles, while his subjects are fond of riverbank cultivation.
“It is difficult to caution a hungry man because he will go back to the dangerous waters. Since the inception of the Zambezi Valley Biodiversity Programme, we are witnessing a positive change and a decrease in human-wildlife conflicts,” he said.
Online Reporter