adminSunday News Reporter
VILLAGERS in some parts of Zvishavane District, in the Midlands Province, have resorted to trading wild fruits and berries for maize grain, as food shortages have started manifesting in the drought prone district owing to poor rains received this season. A tour of Zvishavane district last week showed that crops in most parts of the district had failed owing to moisture stress leaving most villagers staring hunger in the face.
Pastures have also not been spared by the dry spell and livestock in the area is at risk of starving.
Only wild fruits and berries such as nyii/umnyi and nhunguru/umqokolo (Indian plums), which are found in abundance in Zvishavane, have survived the dry spell, providing hope for the villagers, who are now selling the fruits to vendors in exchange for maize grain.
Villagers who spoke to Sunday News said most households in the district and other surrounding areas had run out of grain stocks from the previous summer cropping season which was also not very successful.
Zvishavane district is a semi-arid area, which lies in the country’s natural region four, and is perennially stalked by droughts due to poor rainfall.
This year the district and many others with similar climate, largely in the southern part of the country, received poor rainfall resulting in crop failure and drying up of pastures.
The five chiefs in Zvishavane have since sent an SOS to Government and other well wishers to intervene on the drought situation before the food shortages worsen.
Villagers said their situation had forced them to resort to harvesting wild berries and fruits which they trade to vendors from Zvishavane town, Shurugwi town and Gweru in exchange for grain.
“Two gallons of nyii will get me 5kgs of maize grain. The more nyii you can trade the more grain you get. We spend most our time in the bush harvesting the fruits, which we then put in the sun to dry before selling.
“Vendors come from Zvishavane town, some even from as far as Gweru and Shurugwi to buy the fruits. We are not sure exactly how much they make from selling the berries and we really don’t care. All we care about is being able to feed our families,” said Mrs Anna Mahuni from Simbe village under headman Madzoke in Chief Mazvihwa’s area.
Another Simbe villager, Mr Tellmore Makono added: “This is the only way we are able to feed our families and get by. Our crops failed completely this season as you can see. We got nothing, takarima zhara (our farming efforts were in vain). We don’t know what we are going to do when these fruits run out”.
Murowa Ward 13 Councillor Mr Jacob Mvuto confirmed the dire situation in the area, adding that some people had also resorted to selling home made charcoal.
“This situation is bad across all the wards in the district. People are finding it hard to survive. Some of the villagers are now making charcoal which they sell in town to raise money to buy food for their families. There is no hope in our fields as most, if not all crops have failed.
“It’s the same, whether one planted early or late, all the crops failed because the rains were not enough. Soon malnutrition will start,” he said.
Chief Mapanzure urged Government to intervene with food aid as the situation was getting worse each passing day.
“This is when programmes such as the grain loan scheme should be reintroduced to save people from hunger. We had a better season last year and people sold their grain to GMB. Now that people are facing drought we feel that Government should intervene and cushion its people,” he said.
Chief Mazvihwa, whose area is the worst affected by the drought, appealed to donor organisations to come up with programmes with food-for-work programmes in Zvishavane.
His sentiments were backed by Chief Wedza, and Chief Masunda while Chief Mafala called for am emergency meeting of all leaders in the district to come up with measures to mitigate against the drought.
Government recently urged farmers in Matabeleland South province to start considering destocking by selling their cattle to avoid incurring total losses due to drought.
Matabeleland South Province, among other areas in the Southern part of the country, has not been spared the effects of low rainfall, with over 350 000 cattle in the province reported to be under threat. People too are facing possible starvation.
Agriculture deputy minister Cde Paddy Zhanda said farmers should also consider unlocking value in their cattle to buy food from the Grain Marketing Board, which he said had enough grain stocks.
Online Reporter