The project could not have come at a more opportune time for people in this low rainfall area where an estimated 62 percent of the population are on anti-retroviral medication and households struggle to make ends meet.
Besides providing protein for the community, 46 participating households are making a good living from selling the fish. Forty two of the 46 participants are female – aged between 26 and 64.
Davidson Nyaude, the ZCDA livelihoods officer, told The Zimbabwean that ward 13 was the site of choice as it had a high concentration of displaced victims from the 2005 Operation Murambatsvina.
“When ZCDA was formed in 2000 its major objective was to assist the very poor and create avenues of hope. Operation Murambatsvina left a huge number of families and individuals without livelihoods,” said Nyaude, pointing out that the displaced from various towns were welcomed in Gutu by the traditional leaders.
The project started as an internal saving and lending system through which participants were assisted with financial resources to lend each other cash at an affordable interest rate. The interest was channelled towards buying household utensils for the members to restock what they had lost in Murambatsvina.
This grew into a wider sanitation project that saw the digging of pit latrines and sinking of boreholes. Then villagers built a grocery shop at Gomba village.
After realising that continued community feeding projects were not sustainable and lacked lasting benefits for the targeted households, ZCDA introduced garden projects and then the pilot fish farming venture in March.
Villagers built the 400 square metre pond at a cost of $15,000 and there are plans to expand it to a 1,000 square metres. ZCDA supplied cement, nets, water pumps, dam lining, security fence and about 4,000 Tilapia fish – a fast-growing bream suitable for the environment. The fish start laying eggs after four months.
Villagers should harvest no less than 12,000 fish in February 2015. They fetch an average $3 per kg. A supportive poultry project supplies chicken droppings to feed the fish.
The success of the project was partly attributed to the support provided by the local traditional leaders, led by Chief Mazuru, and the district authorities. To ensure the sustainability of the project, ZCDA trained participants on basic fish farming and management and then set up a management and leadership committee.
“Starvation and other economic hardships are things of the past following the introduction of the projects in our area,” said Mbuya waPhilimon from Mushawatu village.
Resources permitting and should the pilot Gutu fish project proves a success, ZCDA intends to introduce similar ventures at various centres across the country. The NGO is hopeful that with the majority of people turning to white meat for health reasons, the fish industry will enjoy a good share of the market.
“I wish government officials could visit rural and some urban centres of the country to appreciate how the majority of people are struggling to make ends meet,” said Nyaude, indicating that as an NGO they had a passion for an improved living standard for all Zimbabweans.
Post published in: News