The bane of Nyanga

almost difficult to pin blights, defects and knots to Nyanga.

The place, on whose face run and mate and interlock mountains cut by valleys and alcoves that are clothed in lush vegetation amidst cool streams and rivers, could as well be taken for some latter-day Garden of Eden.
That is, when one discounts – as is often the case with many people prone to romanticising about Nyanga – drier parts of the district which are wont to be as dry and hot as any place anywhere.

Or if one were to ignore the ever increasing signs that climate change might be catching up on this place, which farmers fear and acknowledge.
The recent surge in temperatures, which smashed records last month, have not spared this supposedly cool clime.
A manager at a trout farm recalls that when he came here 23 years ago, water temperatures were almost constant at eight degrees Celsius but over the years they have been climbing to as high as 16 and 17 degrees Celsius.

The state of affairs threatens the viability of his trade as the fish require low temperatures.
This means that where previously a cloud had borne the cool waters that softened the alluvial soils and provided the white waters of waterfalls and rapids, it now tends to have the symbolic meaning of portending the worst that might be upon the place sooner or later.
However, the place very well still has its distinction of plenitude.

But the big question is: what will Nyanga have to show for its past glory when the reality of climate change catches up with it?
By all accounts, Nyanga is a small unassuming if not sleepy or gloomy town whose CBD chances on suggesting a dreary picture of a post-war situation.
Yet that it is not the worst of it.
Without a single manufacturing plant for fruits, vegetables or furniture, Nyanga has not invested in value and concentrated on the production of raw products which the district shipped cheaply outside.

If the agriculture is to take a battering, as it is slowly but surely doing through climate change, the district could be left with nothing.
Farmer and businessman Mr Tendai Saruchera explains that this is the bane of Nyanga.
“Nyanga falls in three natural farming regions – Regions 1-3,” he explains.
“Region 1 has a high altitude and is cool and produces apples and potatoes and timber mainly. Region 2 produces bananas and Region 3 produces tomatoes and beans.

“We have been advocating for plants to process these products but nothing has materialised.
“All the products have been taken to Mutare and Harare for processing. Worse still, a company that used to make chips in Mutare closed down and relocated to Harare.
“We are saying that these plants should have been here,” he said.
He said since there was no plant to produce juice from apples, for example, farmers have had to go to Mazowe to have them processed there.

He said apples presented a big chance for value addition.
They could be processed for medicines for local pharmacies and alcohol.
Saruchera agonises over the prospect of locals having to go to Harare to buy furniture which would have been made from Nyanga’s timber.
“We do not have a furniture plant here,” he regrets.

“We have no idea of how we will keep up as the economy improves,” he adds.
He noted that the industry that authorities had been promoting is that of tourism, seemingly at the expense of manufacturing which can feed directly from the abundant natural and agricultural resources.
Saruchera is also saddened that there have not been efforts to harness water for hydroelectricity that cascades on the mountains.

“We have a number of rivers and waterfalls such as Matarazi and Nyangombe except for one small station.
“Were efforts made to invest in such a project, probably our problems would be in the past,” says Saruchera, referring to the now all too familiar tale of electricity load shedding.
Here, the power utility company does not fare any better – or worse – as the place is subjected to constant load-shedding with some odd-time blackouts of up to three days.
The timber forests, too, are diminishing.

This is partly because of the ever-increasing number of people demanding the resource – which they do not add value onto – and the natural phenomenon of climate change.
A new paradigm is setting.
Man’s survival instinct tells him to adapt.
Thomas Mukoyi, an experienced saw miller who has been manager at a number of companies in Mutare and Nyanga, is in the business of buying trees and sawing timber. He is an employer of 28 younger men.

He has seen things change over the years, having had to move further afield to buy trees.
Some plantations, once exhausted, have been stumped for the growing of crops, especially potatoes.
The business has been making losses.

Now he knows that he has to change, and has only just begun to make furniture on the site of his small sawmill near Juliasdale.
With the help of two young men he makes household furniture besides saw milling.
“This fetches more than timber,” he explains.

Mukoyi believes authorities have not invested in talent.
“I am a professional saw miller with 15 years’ experience as a manager.
“However, our young people do not have skills and expertise to move into such fields as carpentry and sawmilling. There are no colleges that teach the skills. There are no scholarships to allow young

people to learn about this,” he told The Herald.
Politicians and the local authority have let Mukoyi down.

In fact, the local authority has threatened to eject him from his site because it is not a designated industrial area.
Isaac Chimeni (19), a carpentry student working for Mukoyi, has become part of a drive that could see the face of Nyanga improving.
That is quite speculative, though.

Their instruments are very basic and skills are lacking glaringly.
There are only a couple of groups who make furniture in Nyanga.
Predictably, the projects are small and apparently lack both inspiration and funding.

Twenty-eight-year old Fungai Sagandira of Clarex Farm says although he earns money helping out at a sawmill as well as having to do piece jobs such as loading timber, young people should be supported.

He said: “Authorities must provide machines. We do not have support.
“We have no skills. Most young people in this area do not have skills,” he added.

Legislator for Nyanga South Mr Willard Chimbetete acknowledges the unavailability of value-adding plants.
“The biggest problem is that of finance,” he told The Herald.

“We would have wanted canning plants and factories . . . timber is being transported to as far as Bulawayo and South Africa when we do not have furniture plants here,” he said.
He believes the future development of the area depends on the improvement of the economy, which would see investors coming in.