admingoats, a number of pots and plates and her homestead.
For years she has been staying in Amandhlovu in Matabeleland North Province and has watched time pass by and weather pattern change resulting in the drying up of many rivers and fresh water sources that used to provide a source of livelihood for many generations in her community.
“I am old but I still play my motherly role of providing food for my grandchildren this is why I come to work in this irrigation scheme. I believe it is the woman’s duty to make sure the family has something to eat everyday as things have changed. Women are the caregivers, they walk long distances to look for water if it is not there. They use that same water to do many household chores, bath the sick and even water gardens,” says Gogo Phiri.
She is one of the people in her area who have come together to form two irrigation schemes that have seen them extracting underground water for use in their fields in this dry part of the country.
Gogo Phiri belongs to the 40-hactare Phaphamani irrigation scheme which started operating in 2003.
The grow maize, beetroots, leafy vegetables, carrots and sugar beans.
Phaphamani irrigation scheme member Mr Stanford Moyo said the irrigation scheme functioned well until when inflation took its toll on the Zimbabwean dollar.
“The majority of members left and a few who remained struggled and started looking for help here and there.
“We came across DP foundation who helped us rebuild water storage tanks which had collapsed and helped us repair engines and pumps which also had broken down,” he said.
Mr Moyo revealed that the irrigation scheme is divided into three sections adding that only one area is working well as the others had their crops affected by frost which visited them for the first time since time immemorial.
“We are devastated because our colleagues expected to harvest many vegetables for resale. “Now the frost just came from nowhere and destroyed all we had. We did not have any knowledge of how to protect our crops and they wilted while we watched.
“We harvested our maize without problems and wanted a continuation.
“For this reason we planted vegetables so that we continue sustaining ourselves,” he said.
The Moyo complained that they also face serious problems with wild and domestic animals that eat their crops at night.
“The fence around the irrigation scheme was destroyed and we need a new one to stop the animals from entering our fields.
“We really have to sort out the fence issue or we will work for nothing,” he added.
He said they sell leafy vegetables especially to locals and to community in areas that include Victoria Falls, Bulawayo and Tsholotsho.
He explained that there has been notable change in their lifestyles from the time they joined the irrigation scheme to date.
“We can now have decent meals because of the money we are earning when we sell the vegetables. I am not talking about drinking tea for breakfast but also having bread and eggs.
“We are getting an average of US$40 per week but if frost goes away the money will increase to about US$150,” he added.
Mr Moyo added that there are more women than their male counterparts in the co-operative.
“At first there were 100 members but now only 60 remain because of various reasons. “Young children also help during weekends,” he said.
This irrigation scheme has also created employment for villagers like Thembinkosi Dube.
Dube helps plough and weed some sections of the irrigation scheme for a fee.
She is now able to take care of her four children as her husband who was the breadwinner died in April this year.
About 850 other households comprising 5960 people from ward 19 in Umguza District have benefitted from a US$192 000 project aimed at providing potable water while enhancing food security in the drought-prone area.
The project was implemented local NGO DP Foundation with financial support from the Emergency Response Fund (ERF).
The beneficiaries like Mr Moyo and Gogo Phiri were drawn from disadvantaged communities in the district. A total of 1 013 orphans, 745 widows, 447 people living with HIV and Aids and 121 widowers were also identified.
The project implemented over six months from June to December 2010 sought to provide safe water for the households through the rehabilitation of 15 boreholes and drilling and equipping five water points. It also aimed at improving food security by supporting 10 nutritional gardens and two irrigation schemes.
Other activities included strengthening the capacity of pump minders and water management committees through training to ensure sustainability of the project.
“The timely intervention helped to avert a potential emergency situation in an area that was affected by a double tragedy of food insecurity and critical water shortages in line with ERF’s objective to provide critical humanitarian funding in the shortest space of time,” said Fernando Arroyo, the head of the United Nations office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Zimbabwe.
The community also has serious water challenges as most of the boreholes broke down years back.
What makes their situation worse is that Umguza district lies in traditionally arid Matabeleland North Province where the main water sources are seasonal rivers, ponds and boreholes. However, following economic challenges and deterioration of water and sanitation infrastructure over the last 10 years, a number of boreholes in the area have stopped functioning due to disrepair.
The current water points are old and the boreholes continuously collapse, thus requiring quick intervention. Electricity faults that usually grapple this community for periods of up to three weeks also result in Zinwa’s failure to pump clean tap water to schools and clinics.
Because of serious financial problems and priorities, Government alone does not have the capacity to support the affected community through repairing such boreholes and drilling new water points.
Similarly, the affected community lacks the financial ability to support such rehabilitation and repairs due to a large number of active community members being affected by HIV and Aids and also a large number of young people having migrated to neighbouring South Africa and other countries in search of livelihood opportunities.
Climate change has also left its trail of destruction as many water sources in the area died, crops affected by frost leaving the community highly vulnerable to acute water shortages and food insecurity among many other negative consequences.
The situation was exacerbated by erratic rainfall and protracted dry spell that affected parts of Zimbabwe in the 2009/10 agricultural season, resulting in 11 percent of the crops being a write off.
Umguza was among the worst affected districts where large portions of maize crops performed poorly, thereby further worsening the already fragile food security situation of targeted population.
DP Foundation chief executive officer Mrs Mildred Sandi said throughout the project, their organisation worked with technical partners including the Agricultural and Technical Extension (Agritex), District
Development Fund (DDF) and local government partners.
“Agritex trained beneficiaries in market gardens and irrigation scheme management, DDF provided technical support in the rehabilitation and drilling of boreholes and training of water management committees and pump minders, while local leadership played an important role in ensuring the security of assets and assisted in identifying suitable beneficiaries for the project,” she said.
With climate change, HIV and Aids constantly changing the face of the environment and people’s lives respectively, is this not the time for Government to empower communities who are at least trying to better their lives so we can meet the 2015 MDG deadline with success stories?
Online Reporter