Tawanda Mangoma in Chiredzi
Chiefs here have appealed to Government to start providing food assistance to communities across the district, most of whom are faced with shortages following poor harvests in the just-ended farming season due to drought.

Chiredzi is one of the driest districts in Masvingo and is perennially plagued by poor and unreliable rains that spawn recurrent food woes, forcing communities to rely on assistance from Government and donor organisations.

Newly-installed Chief Gudo, Mr Karukai Mavivi, told The Herald last week that most villagers in his area required food relief from Government after poor harvests.

“Rainfall unreliability is becoming a major setback for communal farmers in my area and we are appealing to authorities to make arrangements to ship food relief to avert starvation in areas worst hit by drought,” he said.

Chief Gudo said Government and its partners were also supposed to help communities develop irrigation schemes, tapping water from the perennially flowing Save River that passes through the area.

“Government and NGOs should help us to shift from rain-fed farming to irrigation, which is reliable. There is potential to open more irrigation schemes using water from the Save River,” he said.

Mr Felix Mundau (Chief Tshovani) said poor rains in the just-ended farming season dampened prospects of good harvests in his area. He said most people in the area required urgent food relief after failing to salvage anything from their fields because of drought.

“At first the rains disappeared soon after we had planted our crops and when farmers replanted, the crops did not do well because the rains came late and were excessive,” said Chief Tshovani.

“Our main appeal at the moment is for Government to prepare movement of grain to this area to assist those in need of food assistance.”

Chief Tshovani said on a positive note, the state of livestock in the area was good given the rains that fell, allowing for the development of pastures.

Chief Sengwe said the food situation for most communities in the Limpopo Valley was dire as some crops were destroyed by stray wild animals, particularly elephants.

He said areas worst affected by food shortages were Samu and Ngwenyeni in Sengwe where villagers were close to the wildlife-rich Gonarezhou National Park.