Jeffrey Gogo Climate Story
Peter Chieza remembers how famine forced his family to move from Mhandarume to what is now known as Chieza village in 1994. The 56-year-old father of seven was looking forstray cattle with his brothers when they stumbled upon an oasis, the Nyambeya wetland in Chimanimani, eastern Zimbabwe. That instant they decided to relocate their families near the 6,1-hectare wetland, an area of saturated water that maintains the ecological balance. Once settled upstream the Nyambeya river in a wet part of Chimanimani, Chieza and his brothers began to make their own developments; setting up an irrigation scheme and community gardens that perennially guzzled from the wetland.

And to divert water into their fields and households, the brothers built a weir with a small dam wall, and a few others that had the money quickly connected water taps into their homes. Cattle, goats and sheep roamed free in the plush greens of the wetland. Crops flourished. But after a while things began to change. The dam wall collapsed because of poor engineering, the weir’s carrying capacity crashed due to heavy siltation from bad farming techniques and deforestation of watersheds. The wetland had started to dry up, with farm output tumbling, hitting incomes badly, the farmers said. A timely intervention under a four–year Oxfam–implemented project is now starting to replenish the wetland to improve access to water, boost crop yields and save livestock, as part of broader measures to help the Chieza farmers withstand climate change. The intervention is part of a multi–million dollar programme to scale up climate change adaptation across three districts – Buhera, Chimanimani and Chiredzi – which is being implemented by Oxfam in partnership with Government and SAFIRE, with funding from the UN Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility. One year on after the wetland was fenced off, water has returned to Nyambeya’s spongy lands and there are now better pastures for cattle, sheep and goats to graze.

“As a community we decided to start by fencing the wetland off so as to keep livestock away and allow the wetland to regenerate without any disturbances,” said Peter Chieza, who together with his brothers “discovered” the wetland. “The project provided us with the fencing material and we provided the manpower. About four months later we started to see improvements to our wetland. We have noticed some plants which had disappeared starting to come up and some of them have medicinal properties,” he said cheerfully.

To forestall further disaster, Oxfam assisted the villagers to reconstruct the weir that dates back 25 years in such a way that it can withstand flooding, and increased its depth to allow it to hold more water, with technical support from the the Zimbabwe Government. They also pegged contours to reduce soil erosion so that less soil goes to the river, hence ensuring that the wetland is perennially fed, while stopping unauthorised activities in the wetland, Chieza explained.

More water

The success at Nyambeya wetland, benefiting 100 people or 24 families, has raised hope for thousands of farmers elsewhere in Zimbabwe who are facing similar man-made or climate-triggered pressures, Dr Leonard Unganai, project manager, told The Herald Business.

“Protection of the natural ecosystem is an important pillar in building community resilience,” he said. “Wetland habitats serve essential functions in an ecosystem, including acting as water filters, providing flood and erosion control, and furnishing food and homes for fish and wildlife. The story of Nyambeya demonstrates the important role wetlands play in strengthening and building resilience.”

Zimbabwe’s wetlands are a source of fresh water and livelihood for tens of thousands of people and wildlife, but they have declined rapidly in recent decades due to urban development, poor farming practices among other issues. According to the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate there are about 1 117 wetlands spread across the country.  However, only 21 percent of the 793 000 hectares under wetlands in Zimbabwe remain in stable and pristine condition. Another fifth is badly degraded and the remainder are hanging just in there, it says. At Nyambeya, the devastation was real, affecting everyday people that directly relied on the wetland for survival.

“The project looked at how it could stop Nyambeya from going to rot. To do that, project staff raised community awareness about environmental degradation and sustainable natural resources management through leadership training and engagement with farmers and other interested parties”, says district project coordinator, Runyararo Munondo.  Eventually, a Natural Resources Management plan was drawn up, hoping that would guide villagers towards better ways to “preserve their water resources and maintain healthy ecosystems.” And Peter Chieza is living proof.  “We now have water constantly flowing from our taps so we get to concentrate on our work without taking breaks to go and fetch water,” said Chieza who is looking to sell more than 1, 3 tonnes of Michigan beans grown under contract with Cairns Foods, a big local food processing firm, thanks to the Project.  Chieza estimates his earnings from the sale to come in at $1,200 from just $135 a year ago, after Oxfam opened up lines of credit with Lions Finance, a local microfinance, providing seed, fertiliser and other inputs. Simon Mlambo, another farmer utilising the Nyambeya wetland, is growing wheat, maize, sugar beans and tomatoes on 2,5 hectares, with about two thirds of the land under irrigation. As at February 6, 2018, Mlambo had sold two tonnes of maize and 750kg of wheat to State-run Grain Marketing Board, earning just under $2 000, as his crops now receive more water. The crops were grown under a Government programme called Command Agriculture, which supplied farmers with inputs such as seed and fertiliser.

A few years ago prior to the programme, aptly called Scaling up Adaptation in Zimbabwe, with a focus on rural livelihoods, Mlambo earned only a few hundred dollars. Mlambo says water flowing to his fields had improved markedly since the rehabilitation work at Nyambeya wetland, adding that he was generating additional income from selling tomatoes within his community and at a near-by growth point. Villagers in Chieza have now installed a rain gauge to monitor rainfall patterns and make climate-sensitive decisions. They are also embarking on nurseries to reforest and protect their water resources.

God is faithful.

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