adminRoselyne Sachiti Features Editor
FORTY-YEAR-OLD Stanford Nyathi, who is HIV positive, is among hundreds of villagers who have just received food packages from the World Food Programme through its co-operating partner, the United Methodist Committee on Relief in Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe.The father of two, who hails from Chibukwa Village, Magudu area in Mutawatawa in Mashonaland East Province, narrates how he sometimes sleeps hungry when the little food he gets from donors runs out.
His wife died in 2003, has no cattle, goats or chickens and rarely harvests any food from his small field because of water shortages.
“Hunger is stalking us. Just yesterday, I went to bed on an empty stomach. I have been on ARVs since 2008 and the food shortages really affect me healthwise. If there is no food, I just drink a lot of water so that I do not fall down,” explains Nyathi, who is the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Network of People Living with HIV Magudu cluster.
Nyathi, while packing his food ration, comprising 10kg of maize, 2kg peas and 750ml of cooking oil, says he cannot wait to get home, cook have his first meal in hours.
Added Nyathi: “We want Government to help with food, soap and clothes. We also want domestic animals like cattle,” his wish list continues.
Another villager, Mrs Venesi Chinyere (41), a widow, said they are facing serious food shortages.
To make ends meet, she hires out her labour to fellow villagers and teachers at nearby schools.
“I am paid small food rations and chickens by fellow villagers. I sometimes work for teachers and get money to pay for fees for my two children,” she says.
She shifts her attention from the interview and concentrates on picking some grains of maize that had spilled from the bucket they are using for measuring.
She also wants to make sure that she gets the right amount of peas and cooking oil.
Nothing goes to waste in this dry part of the country; food is precious.
She has also received 10kg of maize meal, peas and cooking oil. The food is not enough as the rations have been cut from the previous 10kg per family member to 5kg.
The food will last her four to five days since she had “nothing” at home before receiving this small consignment.
“I have to devise ways to make this food last. I will cook dinner only and eat other meals from friends.
“We hear donors are running out of money, is this true?” she questioned.
Gogo Zvakaora Mutiwekuziva (72) said she will not worry about her next meal, at least for the next few days.
She takes care of two grandchildren as their parents are dead. She sometimes gets food handouts from other villagers who pity her. She does not have a garden of her own, has a goat and one chicken.
“We are hungry, Government and NGOs are trying to help us but we are too many, our problems are also too many,” she says.
In this area, which falls into agro-ecological region 4 (semi-extensive farming region which covers approximately 38 percent of Zimbabwe) productive infrastructure, including irrigation structures have been neglected over the years.
Villagers are experiencing the wrath of climate change as rainfall patterns continue to shift, sometimes not even coming.
Ward 3 Councillor Mrs Dorothy Chiota said the dam rehabilitation and all the projects underway were a timely intervention.
“Our dam was drying out. People and animals were walking 10 kilometres to look for water. Others would walk to Katiyo area in Uzumba about 40 kilometres away to look for vegetables,” she said.
She also said the nutrition garden project also empowered HIV positive people, widows and otphans in the area.
Mrs Chiota rejoices that dip tanks also meant their cattle, which used to die because of diseases, would now live, transforming villagers’ lives.
She also adds that she is impressed because 75 percent of the beneficiaries are women.
Headman Mr Lloyd Chiota said they would want the NGOs and Government to increase assistance in form of food, and school fees, especially for vulnerable children as what they are currently getting is just a drop in the ocean.
He said they were struggling to improve their well-being through income- generating projects like market gardening because of bad infrastructure and water problems.
The traditional chief administered communal farm (Zunde raMambo) has brought little joy to the starving villagers as the drought continues to affect yields
“In 2010 we decided to grow sorghum and other small grains for the Zunde raMambo programme.
“Using the proceeds, we help five to 15 child-headed families in the area,” he says.
He urged Government to continue providing small grains, especially when inputs come late.
“We prefer sorghum and millet, which matures within a month.
“We urge Government to bring the seed earlier so that we plant early,” he said.
He also said chiefs and development partners decided to scale down food assistance from 10kg of maize to 5 kg to accommodate more people.
“Chiefs agreed to scale down so that more vulnerable people get the food assistance. Only a few would benefit when we gave them the 10kg per person allocation,” he said. Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs Minister Simbaneuta Mudarikwa applauded efforts by the donor community to help alleviate hunger in the area.
He also applauded the community for working hard, as evidenced by the successful projects they were partaking, and not waiting to get food on a silver platter.
“When you have the problem of a drought, it does not mean you have no energy to work, you can work to better your life,” he said.
He said Government has food relief programmes currently taking place, but its capacity is limited as they do not have enough resources to cater for everyone resulting in partnerships with the donor community who fill the gaps.
“Government has the grain loan scheme. It is not for free, the whole idea is to remove completely the element of free handouts.
“You are given a loan and pay whenever there is a harvest,” he said.
He discouraged the community from politicising the projects as this would reverse development.
“When the cattle come to the dip tanks, no one should ask if they belong to a Zanu-PF, MDC, NDU or NDA member, they belong to Zimbabwean children and should benefit. We are not polarised, we are united as Zimbabwean children,” he emphasised.
He urged the community to maintain and properly manage the projects as they would benefit them long after the NGOs are gone.
He explains that to alleviate poverty, some youths are involved in chicken production but limited as they are working from an area hard hit by drought and stiff markets in the city.
“This area is good for livestock but there is no demand for beef in the country because of cheap chicken imports from countries like South Africa. People from Harare used to come here and buy but they no longer do that. Cheap imports are also affecting the price of cattle here.
That is why we are pushing for the ban of all chicken imports,” he said.
In this area, most boreholes are either dry, have broken down or too salty.
For example, Magudu area only has one borehole catering for seven villages with a population of between 1 200-1 500 people.
The Dindi area has two boreholes, while at Jamari only one borehole is working, but water extremely salty.
Cde Mudarikwa said this is worrying and the local district council and DDF are working hard to have them repaired.
He also said the nutrition gardens were a timely intervention.
“When you have food insecurity you have malnutrition, that is why they have created nutrition gardens and allocated them to child headed families and the elderly etc,” he said.
He also praised the United Methodist for managing to remove the dependency syndrome from the community.
“When you go into an area, identify the fundamentals of that population that are critical for the empowerment of that community. In our community if you have no cattle then you are poor. UMCOR has identified this and brought programmes that empower people,” he said.
UMCOR, which has been working in the area since October 2012 says crop production in UMP is inadequate, exposing the majority of the people to annual food shortages.
“This is reflected by the continuous intervention of the World Food Programme and its partners in the provision of food aid assistance.
“Communities were also struggling to improve their lives through income-generating programmes such as market gardening because the functioning capacity of the dam was inadequate for irrigation schemes and required substantial resources for rehabilitation,” says UMCOR Programmes Co-ordinator Mr Tendai Matemadombo.
He adds that poor farming practices in the area have led to soil erosion and siltation of dams.
Before their intervention, there was also loss of cattle, especially in the summer months before the rains, as cattle walked long distances to the Mazowe River for drinking water.
The situation is also compounded by diseases that stalk the cattle as the existing dip tanks are not properly functioning hence failing to effectively provide the required services to livestock.
As a response to the challenges, he explains, UMCOR embarked on a short-term programme, the Productive Asset Creation and Food for Assets.
The programme, he adds, is meant to mitigate the effects of drought on 1 456 food insecure, non-labor constrained households in the area through the development of productive assets and improved distribution.
“The 1456 workers from wards 1,2 and 3 have been working tirelessly on completing the rehabilitation of six small dams linked to complementary nutrition gardens under one hectare; the rehabilitation of an irrigation scheme (1.2 hactares), cattle sales pen and dip tank and also the rehabilitation of three dip tanks improving the health of livestock,” he adds.
The community worked 601 hours per month since July 1 , 2013 and the results tell a story of people determined to fight their worst enemy, hunger.
They now have a state of the art dip tank, nutrition garden and have rehabilitated their dam by putting up a dam wall.
Mr Matemadombo added that under the STA programme, they hope to increase the ability of food insecure individuals, manage shocks and meet necessary food needs between November 2013 and March 2014.
“As the implementing partner for WFP, UMCOR will provide 12,75kg monthly feeding rations (10kg cereal, 2kg of pulses and o.75kg of oil) to most of the food insecure smallholder faming households,” he assures villagers.
However, he explains, the bigger the family, the more food they get.
For instance, a family of 6 would get 30kg of maize, 6kg beans and 3 litres cooking oil.
Mr Matemadombo revealed that the STA programme has supported 27 774 vulnerable individuals in UMP between October 2012 and March 2013.
“Following this, UMCOR began a WFP Food for Assets programme supporting 7 280 beneficiaries in June 2013,” he reveals.
WFP Zimbabwe Public Information Officer Mr Tomson Phiri says they are providing assistance in kind and cash since October. He said they started with two districts and have scaled up to 19 districts by November 2013.
“Between October and March 2014, we will give emergency food assistance under the STA
“However, we may be unable to scale up assistance to all who need it because of financial constraints, he says.
The United Nations Zimbabwe mid-year review – Humanitarian Gaps Report as of September 2013 – states that there has been inadequate funding.
It highlights that the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Committee Assessment (ZimVac) appraisal says 25 percent of rural households are projected to be food insecure at the peak of the 2013/2014 agricultural season. “There is a 32 percent increase in food insecure people compared to the last season and represents 2,2 million people at hunger season not being able to meet their annual food requirements.
Consequently, the humanitarian support to insecure people needs to be stepped up during the remaining part of the year,” the report warns.
Ii also cites reduced access to proper irrigation for smallholder farmers as a major food insecurity cause and recommended the need to improve irrigation and food security assets systems.
At the peak of the last hunger season, according to the report, between January and March 2013, about 1.67 million rural Zimbabweans were food insecure, a 60 percent increase from the one million people in need of assistance during the same time in 2011.
Approximately 1,5 million people in 38 rural districts were reached with assistance.
Of the 1,5 million, some 250 000 beneficiaries received cash as an alternative to in kind assistance to enable them to buy own cereals from local markets.
The report adds that the ongoing drought in the southern part of the country would continue into 2014.
“The season was characterised by a late start of rains, flooding, and a prolonged mid-season dry spell which significantly affected the harvest. Approximately 42 percent of children under five were consuming two or fewer meals per day and therefore unlikely to access adequate nutrients necessary for their optimum growth,” the report pointed out.
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