Community rises to the challenge

During this turbulent period, there was severe despair among the people in this scarred community. They had embarked on a number of projects before, thanks to a revolving loan fund from a non-governmental organization. But many of them fell by the wayside because of relentless political violence and harassment.

Feeling that there is now light at the end of the tunnel, the community has regrouped and is poised to carry on with the aid of Edit Trust, an NGO that has been working in the district since 1998 to resuscitate and rehabilitate the environment through jatropha and sunflower production and processing.

For Daniel Chitsatse (45) it is time to pick up the pieces. With financial help from Edit Trust, he has seen his project growing from humble beginnings to having three processing machines.

It is quite inspiring and encouraging to see people such as Chitsatse rising from the sad ashes, David Mazambani, Director of Edit Trust, recently told visiting local delegates on a study tour from Chitsanza Development Association (Chida), a community-based organization in Wards 19 and 22 of Nyanga South and officials from the Zimbabwe National Environment Trust (Zimnet).

The project includes the production of cooking oil, oil lamp, bio-diesel and soap at community level – contributing to the health and nutrition of the people.

Mazambi said agro-biodiversity would play an important part in protecting the livelihoods of people in the district. In order to overcome water shortages, Chitsatse is planning to harvest rain water which is the best when processing jatropha and sunflower seeds.

In Africa, agriculture is dominated by small-scale farmers like Chitsatse and most of them have less than 10 hectares of land, made worse by living in very dry and fragile regions. Agro-biodiversity is crucial in eliminating poverty and hunger and it also helps in creating local employment opportunities. Chitsatse has managed to help his community by providing cheaper commodities such as soap, lamp oil and cooking oil. Trade is mostly by barter because people here have no access to US dollars.

Jatropha and sunflower plants are mostly grown around Sangoma and Mangezi villages near Avila Mission further to the north of Ruwangwe. They are grown in plantations around homesteads and outlying fields.

With the aid of the Global Environment Facility-Small Grants Programme, the community will in the near future receive new jatropha, sunflower and oil-making plant machines, said Mazambani. Training workshops in soap and oil making will be held for selected members from the 15 groups that have been formed in the community at the end of October 2009 at Elim Mission, which is central and strategic.

For entrepreneurs like Chitsate buy the shelled jatropha and sunflower seeds from local growers. According to him, the prices are determined by the sellers, who choose either barter trade or cash prices. However, the local farmers, it appears, mostly prefer barter trade to cash prices as they feel the prices are too low US$1.00 or a bottle of paraffin for a bucket of jatropha or sunflower seeds!

The residues from jatropha are used as compound fertilizer, while sunflower residues make nutritious animal feed. The plant has been used in many villages around the country as live fence in the past. It helps to mitigate climate change by removing excess carbon dioxide from the air and also assists in binding the soil together, enhancing soil fertility and in the process reducing soil erosion.

The use of such plants in arid regions like Nyanga North is of vital importance for the local people, especially in enhancing and maintaining soil fertility. The drought tolerant plant, Jatropha curcas L., can improve the fragile environment and supply raw materials for local communities, said Mazambani.