Doing wonders on rolling hills
THE descent into the hinterland beyond the iconic Troutbeck Hotel can easily leave one dizzy.
Besides the rolling mountainside, the curves and bends are so sharp that an almost pedestrian speed is required.
At such speeds, it is easy to take in the lush greenery and thriving crops on the rolling hills of Tombo 1 and 2.
“The rivers here are perennial,” explains Charles Pumhe, whom we found tending to his about-to-be-harvested sugar beans, “and the water comes from the mountain tops, there should be springs up there. What we know is that we have running water throughout the year.”
To this end, the family has invested in almost 2km of polypipes, which draw water from under the bridge at Nyanhambwe River, to irrigate their two acres. The piping system also supplies taped water to the homestead.
“Yes the water is safe to drink. We use it for domestic purposes as well as to irrigate our fields.”
Though the crops grown differ from household to household, the general rule is to grow cash crops.
“Some have tomatoes, sugar beans, green mealies or wheat. But wheat is mainly grown for subsistence, the plots are too small to realise any reasonable profits from commercial wheat,” says Pumhe.
The farmers use a rudimentary irrigation technique that uses gravity to deliver water right to their doorsteps.
The force of the gravity is such that some can even use sprinklers.
For the almost 2km pipeline, the Pumhe family has invested in some 18 rolls of 100m polypipes.
“The start-up cost can be prohibitive so we bought the pipes over a period of time. But if one get their calculations right, especially by matching a crop to its peak demand season, the set-up costs can be offset by just one harvest.”
The Nyanhambwe River, a tributary to Gairezi River, besides supplying the irrigation water, also has several “baths” along its course, with certain stretches of the river reserved as female or male bath places.
Just after the bridge, children use the river as a swimming pool, cooling off in the simmering summer heat.
But it is the gravity-driven irrigation, inspired by models at Nyamaropa and Nyakomba irrigation schemes, that has changed the face of Nyanga farmers.
“We don’t wait for rains this side,” boasts Pumhe, “as soon after harvesting our summer crops we get into potatoes, tomatoes, sugar beans and other crops. That means we make money all-year round unlike farmers elsewhere who have to wait for the rains.”
Because the pipes do not always follow the river bank, sometimes finding the shortest possible route to one’s fields, which route can be through some bushes, there is an unwritten rule amongst the neighbourhood about veld fires.
“It is in everyone’s interest to look after the pipes, so we hardly get any outbreaks of fire this side.
On the rare occasion that a fire breaks out, the whole community comes together in the shortest possible time to put it off,” he says.
And because the pipes are more like community-owned and community-shared property, there are hardly any cases of vandalism, with each farmer always acting as a member of the neighbourhood watch patrol.