MVUMA -- Impoverished families in rural Zimbabwe are coming up with bold ideas to fight hunger and poverty, despite economic difficulties in the Southern African nation. (Pictured: Schoolchildren carrying home food donated by a relief agency. The Mvuma families say want to become self-sufficient in basic food supplies)At least 25 residences in the central region gold mining town of Mvuma, 190 km south-east of the capital, Harare, are being turned into agro-industrial schemes.
The poverty-ridden residents say they want to produce all their domestic requirements like food, medicines and livestock feed at home, without having to rely entirely on the traditional suppliers.
The scheme, involving people who bought relatively low-priced plots of land on the outskirts of the degenerated town, is run by a group calling itself the Mvuma East Peri-Urban Ideal Homes Development Club.
Project secretary, Tamuka Matambo, a soft spoken retired primary school teacher, says the idea came after the serious food shortages caused by drought and non-existence of basic goods in shops last year, when desperate hundreds fed on wild fruits.
The plan is that each familys two hectares of land should yield a balanced, complete diet and the people become self-sufficient in basic supplies and drastically reduce dependence on shops, he explains.
To achieve the intricate objective, they have engaged the state-run Agricultural Extension Service for guidance and the department has committed one officer, Faith Mudiwakure, to help them in the projects they have lined up.
Farmers should be able to build their own homes, repair their implements, and construct crop and livestock houses, she says.
She guides them to operate gardens, small butcheries, keep domestic animals and produce fruits. Numerous problems are frustrating progress though.
Ms Mudiwakure says Mvuma East has rich soils with high potential for serious production, yet the relatively virgin area is dry and as result many families have to rely on Mvuma town some four kilometres away for domestic water.
We have approached the Church of God in Christ for help to drill boreholes, she says. But the religious group is yet to respond.
In addition to water problems, wild animals and stray cattle that freely roam the sparsely populated area have been another scourge for the families, ravaging crop fields especially at night when there is no one to watch over crops.
Group Chairman Onesmo Mapope says some 207 people were six years ago allocated land in the area. Only 25 of them have since developed their places, leaving the settlers helpless against thieves and wandering animals.
Another group member says the poverty-stricken residents expect to benefit immensely from their joint scheme, given their enthusiasm for work.
Augustine Chapwanya says, I tilled the land by hand and also planted other crops like rapoko and peanuts. My harvest would have been even bigger had it not been for cattle and wild animals.
Meanwhile, the co-operators expressed concern at the apparent reluctance of the authorities to develop infrastructure suitable for meaningful production. A point echoed by some agricultural and rural development experts who say the government has failed to give the sector the attention it deserves.
Dr Bright Mombeshora, a farming expert says the top-to-down way of doing things is probably the biggest enemy of any schemes that state or private agencies have introduced to try to improve agriculture as a way to bolster development in rural communities. Most of the projects have failed dismally.
Those people know what they want and the best means of achieving it. They need financial and technical help, not imposed programmes. They have to own the project; otherwise it will be a foreign exercise to them, he says
The agricultural scientist says most development schemes introduced over the years in the country failed because either the state initiated them and lacked community support or communities started them and could not get government backing.
However, the Central Zimbabwe project promises to become a different tale, as it is both a community initiative and a state-backed programme.
Post published in: Analysis