I had done my part but rain failure has really affected food security prospects for my family, Mtetwa said, wondering how he will feed his family of nine children, including five left following the death of his elder brother Samuel, until the next harvest.
A full-time farmer with a small plot in Uchenani village in Chipinge, Mtetwa relies on the harvest from his three-acre plot to feed his family. But he expects to harvest only a few sackfuls of maize after the bulk of his crops were scorched during the dry spell which hit much of the country in February.
He has resorted to using his skill as a technician repairing radios and televisions for fellow villagers to earn extra cash to buy food.
But this hasn’t yield much, as few of the villagers who bring their gadgets for repair pay for the services afterwards. I now rely on my trade as a technician but we are in a crisis, people are not paying in time, he said.
An array of radio and television sets as well as shells and other components fill Mtetwa’s makeshift workshop.
He has resorted to buying maize from other districts where a 20kg bucket of maize costs $7 – not a small sum for someone who has to pay school fees for nine children. They eke out the food to make 10kg last three days.
Mtetwa’s case is typical of many families from Tanganda, through Chibuwe to Maparadze who face hunger after the hot spell destroyed their crops.
Even those who took heed of the advice from Arex officers to plant more drought-resistant crops suffered losses – as the small grains such as rapoko and sorghum could not withstand the dry spell.
Headman Mangiza said food shortages were so serious that no one knows how they will survive to the next season. We dont know how we are going to survive to the next season, the challenge we are facing is really big, and it needs urgent attention from the government and Non Governmental Organizations, he said.
But the traditional donors are yet to start food distribution, leaving the villagers at the mercy of companies who make the desperate work – often only for paltry food rations.
Some organisations have created jobs for locals and have at least rescued the situation. But our concern is that the paltry salaries workers are getting is not enough to curb the catastrophe, said ward 24 councilor Zekias Sithole of the companies that have offered the villagers work for food.
He said child-headed families were especially vulnerable.
Some villagers have blamed the food shortages for a rise in criminal activities such as robbery. Criminal activities have escalated in our villages and all those are result of the present crisis, said Bothwell Zito of Chisumbanje.
Asked about the situation, Rose Gwenzi, of Manzvire village said: Nzara yegore rino yaunza dambudziko guru maningi munharaunda mwedu, tinotonyaya kuzwira tsitsi nherera neshirikadzi ngekuti avana neunovaonawo (hunger is causing serious problems in our community; we feel for orphans and widows who have no one to care for them).
Many villagers have complained of people who take advantage of the food shortages and ask for beasts in exchange for a few bags of maize.
In the lowveld, a beast is trading for six bags of maize or $150. Villagers fear a repeat of the 2007-08 season when a beast traded for a single bag of maize.
Councilor Miriam Mukombe of Ward 28 said some business people were stocking up maize to exchange for cattle or goats with desperate villagers. Very soon you will hear reports of those swindlers robbing villagers their livestock, she lamented.
The situation is likely to result in villagers losing all their livestock, a catastrophe that will make it difficult to continue farming as livestock is a critical element for small-scale farming.
(This story was written with the support of the Humanitarian Information Facilitation Center, HIFC)