Turning Zim into greenbelt for food security
Government has set a target of drilling one borehole in each of the 35 000 rural villages in the country, with a commercial one-hectare garden being established in each of the villages, complemented by free 10 fruit trees and 50 sweet potato vines that wi
“WATER is life, water is food. Leave no one behind.”
This is the theme for the 2023 World Food Day, which is being celebrated tomorrow by Zimbabwe and the rest of the world.
Indeed, extreme vagaries of the weather occur, with droughts and accelerating climate change shocks being experienced often, making life difficult for rural folks who practise rain-fed agriculture.
However, the availability of irrigation in all areas, including arid zones, can make a difference towards household and national food security.
According to experts, irrigation can increase yields and production, protect against yield losses to variable rains, and enable growing of crops in dry seasons, and even potentially high-value crops in extremely arid districts.
One such district is Chimanimani, which is a unique area that has all the agro-ecological regions in Zimbabwe.
Mrs Queen Majokwiro (54) lives in Chanhuwa Village, which falls under region four.
The area receives very little rain and experiences frequent dry spells, droughts and high temperatures.
The soils are overexploited and infertile, and many fields are left untilled.
Because of erratic rains, crops usually wilt before maturity.
Patches of lifeless and sun-burnt crop residues are a common feature.
Villagers in the area typically plant millet, sorghum, groundnuts, round nuts or maize, but these are usually a write-off due to poor rains and prolonged hot weather.
This leaves this part of the district being associated with zero harvests, and heavy reliance on food aid.
Climate experts attributed the changing weather patterns to increasing gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide, together with greenhouse gases like methane and nitrogen, are causing the earth to heat up.
As a result, poverty has become an epidemic, with lack of access to water an insurmountable obstacle to productive agriculture.
To ensure no one is left behind, and climate is met with equal measure, Government has since initiated the AMA concept (Adaptation, Mitigation and Action), whose tenets are aimed at making Zimbabwe food-secure.
Against this background, one needs to visit the homestead of Mrs Majokwiro to appreciate that water can even turn a desert into a greenbelt for human survival.
The widow and mother of three is now able to make a good income from her four-hectare plot, something she wants other women and youths from her area and the rest of Zimbabwe to emulate, to extricate themselves from poverty.
Her plot is always green, her efforts proving that water harvesting and irrigation are the panacea to hunger.
She runs a horticulture project that involves growing crops such as green mealies, onions, tomatoes and vegetables. She also has a fruit orchard.
One can mistake her sugarcane field for a commercial project in Chiredzi, which is changing stereotypes about what the district’s soils can produce.
“When Government extension workers came, encouraging us to construct gabions and weirs, I heeded the call and constructed them close to my field.
“After the 2021-2022 summer cropping season, the part of the river that used to dry up as early as June could last the following season with water,” recalls Mrs Majokwiro.
Since then, she has become an all-yearround farmer, turning part of Biriri River, which flows along the southern edge of her field, into a small dam.
“I have managed to continue sending my children to school from the proceeds of my farm enterprise. Right now, I am paying for two of them, who are both doing their tertiary education,” she said.
Taking advantage of the mountainous terrain of her area, Mrs Majokwiro bought a 1 km-long poly-pipe, and is using it to siphon water to irrigate her field.
She has since purchased sprinklers and her work has been lessened, because she previously used a cattle-drawn water cart.
The weir, she said, has become perennial since its establishment.
A weir is an adjustable dam placed across a river to regulate the flow of water downstream, while a gabion is a cylindrical basket or cage of wicker that is filled with earth or stones, and is used in fortifications to prevent soil erosion.
This is one of the measures Government is putting in place to ensure no place is left
behind dry, and no household goes hungry.
“Water conservation will be key during this predicted El-Niño-affected season.
“We are pleased with the progress we are making. Our target is to leave no land, no farmer and no water body behind, as we seek to climate-proof our agriculture.
“Manicaland Province has recorded great strides. Our team is working tirelessly in restoring a vast expanse of land to its good state for agricultural purposes,” said Engineer Edwin Zimunga, the chief director responsible for agricultural engineering, mechanisation, post-harvest agro-processing and soil conservation.
He said Government has also adopted an accelerated irrigation rehabilitation programme, which will see all the malfunctioning irrigation systems resuscitated to ensure every piece of irrigable land is fully utilised.
Considering that over 60 percent of the national population lives in rural areas, in December 2021, President Mnangagwa launched the Rural Development 8.0 in Mangwe, through which Government seeks to achieve food security from household level, through implementation of various programmes.
At least three million households are benefiting.
Community gardens
Government has set a target of drilling one borehole in each of the 35 000 rural villages in the country, with a commercial one-hectare garden being established in each of the villages, complemented by free 10 fruit trees and 50 sweet potato vines that will be given to each rural household.
The Agricultural Marketing Authority is mandated with ensuring that these gardens have viable market linkages, for their produce to remain sustainable.
The Pfumvudza/Intwasa Inputs Scheme, the Presidential Goat Scheme, the Presidential Poultry Scheme and the Presidential Community Fisheries Scheme are also among other hunger-mitigating measures that are proving successful in transforming rural livelihoods.
Post-harvest losses and value addition With no end in sight to the prevailing hot temperatures, farmers’ unions have been urging the Harare City Council to develop proper storage infrastructure at Harare’s largest fresh produce market, Mbare Musika, to prevent significant daily losses of food by farmers.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union secretary-general Mr Paul Zakariya recently said cold facilities are urgently needed.
“It is high time that Mbare Musika be remodelled and upgraded to suit the demands of modern markets and match the produce deliveries with the available handling infrastructure.
“Over 80 percent of commodities, ranging from 200 tonnes of tomatoes and 400 tonnes of potatoes, are being sold daily, hence the need to develop cold chain technologies to reduce post-harvest losses,” said Mr Zakariya.
Value addition is also considered key to avoid losses by farmers who produce perishables. The past five years have seen Associated Foods of Zimbabwe and Selby Enterprise on a growth trajectory as manufacturers and distributors of preserves, snacks, canned fruits, tomatoes and vegetable pastes.
Last year, Selby injected over US$6,5 million to refurbish a cold room facility at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare.
Selby director Mr Adam Selby, during a media tour at his farm in Mazowe last year, said their aim was to standardise their operations to meet export expectations.
“The investment is around US$3 million. We want to meet the European Union and Global G.A.P. standards.
“The focus will be on tomato and baked beans products,” said Mr Selby.
As the World Food Day 2023 is celebrated, the theme resonates well with Government’s programmes, reflecting that water is the foundation of food security.
The theme is also seeking to raise global awareness about the importance of managing water wisely, as rapid population growth, economic development, urbanisation and climate change threaten water availability.
World Food Day takes place annually on October 16, and promotes awareness on hunger and action for the future of food, people, and the planet.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations designated October 16 as World Food Day in 1979.