adminWHILE there is no doubt that the Zimbabwean economy is agrarian, a lot of families are still living off the small pieces of land at their disposal despite the Government’s Land Reform Programme that gave the black majority ownership of the resource that was in the hands of an elite white few.
An agrarian economy by definition means an economy that relies primarily on agriculture and whose major factor of production is agricultural land. This informed the government to parcel out land to the landless in a bid to economically empower them and make them food self-sufficient, relieving the burden to feed the population off its shoulder.
But not everyone did get the land. Urbanites like Ms Sinikiwe Phiri (47) of Sizinda in Bulawayo whose late father was of Malawian origin did not. She had never known rural life as her late father never bothered to build a home when he came looking for work in the country. Sizinda therefore became their home.
She is a single mother of four who used to work as a maid for a white couple before her employers relocated to South Africa.
She was left with no source of income and had to create space for a tenant in the small three-roomed house that her father left.
Ms Phiri could hardly afford to buy basic foodstuffs for her children and decided to go into urban farming to cushion herself from the vagaries of the harsh economy characterised by stagflation in the years gone by and perhaps provide enough food for her children.
With so many other urban dwellers in the same socio-economic predicament they started clearing land they allocated themselves in the outskirts of the suburb or in between suburbs.
The cleared land became their fields. The land identified for farming purposes included stream banks and other open spaces they saw lying idle. And like their rural counterparts they started growing maize as the staple crop, but as fate would dictate successive councils would mercilessly descend on the maize crop, slashing the crop to the ground, leaving Ms Phiri and others counting their loses.
“It was hard, painful in fact, that when we were looking forward to the crop giving us something you would wake up to find the city council had slashed everything. We did not tire. The situation at home was not such that you would count your loses and relax. We were the meat in a sandwich and that was uncomfortable.
“We therefore would soldier on, hoping and praying that whatever they would have left would be spared for good. It is not that we enjoy farming on undesignated land but the desperation of our situation forces us to endure the torturous exertion.
We have families to feed and we are not working, the economy is bad,” said Ms Phiri.
She said they understood that the city council would be enforcing its by-laws but said they were not wearing a human face.
This scenario is not confined to Sizinda alone, neither is it a Bulawayo story. It resonates on how most Zimbabwean urbanites who, because of the pressing economy, are found allocating themselves pieces of land where they do farming for sustenance at household level.
It is not a new phenomenon given that the country’s economy is agrarian-based and its socio-economic polity is underpinned by agricultural activity hence the food security responsibility that it used to shoulder in the regional bloc — Sadc.
Although agriculture in Zimbabwe’s urban areas is of two types — on-plot and off-plot farming, it is the latter that most people practise. In off-plot urban agriculture, most land that is utilised is public land. This includes land reserved by councils for future developments such as housing, industry, roads, vacant residential stands, public service servitudes, recreation facilities, ecological lungs and vleiland.
Illegal title to off-plot land is based on the “first claim” basis — those who clear land for cultivation first claim it as theirs. The perception among urban producers who cultivate public land is that this is idle land, an under-utilised scarce resource which can be put to immediate productive use for household self-provisioning.
Interestingly however, there are spine chilling stories told as some residents use black magic in the fights over land and boundaries. Ms Phiri confirmed both sickness and deaths as people engage in fights for the council land in their struggle for survival.
“People fight for this land. The issue of land ownership and boundaries is not an easy one, encroaching into another person’s piece of land is enough to cause a fight. We have seen people fighting for the land physically while others go to the extent of using black magic to harm or even kill the other person. We have seen it. We have also witnessed people using umuthi to harm thieves, it’s all a mixed bag of everything,” she said with a chuckle.
She admitted that the production entitlement was improving dietary diversity, food self-sufficiency at household level and nutritional intake, adding that a few farmers produce surplus which was traded in informal township markets. Income raised — which gives these farmers exchange entitlement — is used for other household necessities such as basic medication, transport fares and other food commodities.
However, despite the evident benefits of urban agriculture to the farmers, its potential is constrained by a complex of factors that include land tenure insecurity, erratic water access, small plot sizes, inadequate capital for optimising plot productivity and ambivalent application of urban land-use laws.
And unlike in previous years where it was an activity mostly for women, recent trends are showing a shift to a gender-balanced activity where men are also taking an active role mostly due to the need to supplement family food supplies.
Urban farming is also no longer confined to that have no rural homes like Ms Phiri, but is now being practised by almost everyone, even those who own acres of land in their rural areas while some practise it on their backyards for it enhances food security at family level and lessens the burden on national food reliance figures.
Some are not limiting themselves to growing crops alone but are practising poultry too while some go further to do quails and even rabbits. These are however, projects known traditionally to be practised in rural areas but the pressure for food and the need to fulfil the Government’s thrust of economic empowerment has seen a growing number of urban farmers emerging.
Bulawayo City Council (BCC) Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube said due to the harsh economic environment council was allowing residents to participate in agricultural activities but urged residents to avoid stream bank cultivation whose environment effects he said were known. He said residents should actively participate in urban farming.
“We know that times are hard so we’re encouraging urban agricultural activities. Food security is very important. If they (residents) find places to cultivate they should go ahead and cultivate. Those who’re not sure of the areas they want to cultivate should engage council. What we do not want is for them to practise stream bank cultivation that has a danger of siltation and sometimes choking our pipes and affecting our sewer system,” said Mr Dube.
The council’s position complements the Government’s stance that through agricultural activities the country would have sufficient food for two seasons.
The Government has embarked on command agriculture where it is assisting farmers with farming inputs. The programme was bankrolled to the tune of $500 million.
Although the city council is not giving farming inputs to urban farmers, it made a commendable climb down from previous years by supporting agricultural activities aimed at boosting food security.
The town clerk strongly warned residents against practising stream bank farming saying anyone found wanting would be dealt with.
Mr Dube said stream bank cultivation is damaging the environment and the council would descend heavily on those practising it.
“We won’t negotiate with them but destroy whatever they would have planted. Stream bank farming leads to siltation which is not good for the environment,” said Mr Dube.
Environmental Management Agency (EMA) manager for Bulawayo Mr Descent Ndlovu weighed on saying stream bank cultivation was environmentally unfriendly. Mr Ndlovu said those involved in any agricultural activities should plant their crops 30 metres from the streams.
“Stream bank farming results in siltation of rivers. Siltation occurs as a result of loosening of soils through cultivation. There is also the danger of dangerous chemicals such as fertilisers being washed into the rivers in the process but our biggest worry is siltation,” said Mr Ndlovu.
Online Reporter