Guruve farmers defy drought
Saturday, 27 March 2010 18:42
WHEN life became really tough, Mbuya Erica Chirimanyemba’s husband deserted her and went to live in Dande, leaving her to battle with perennial droughts in the Mashonaland Central District of Guruve.
For eight years, Mbuya Chirimanyemba went through all sorts of struggles to make ends meet and get food on the table for her orphaned grandson. The youngster had already dropped out of school and his 60-year-old
grandmother clearly could not do anything to help the situation. Repeated appeals for her husband, Lameck Chirimanyemba, to return home from Dande did not yield anything.
At her age, it was easy and understandable for Chirimanyemba to just give up, sit back and wait for handouts from donors and well-wishers.
But she did not. Instead, she worked harder than ever before. Her first few years without a husband were very difficult, but Chirimanyemba soldiered on. Her “breakthrough” finally came in 2007 when a local non-governmental organisation introduced her to conservation agriculture – a way of farming that involves zero tillage to boost output from a small piece of land.
“My husband only came back last year when he heard how successful I had become as a farmer,” said Chirimanyemba.
“My grandson has also gone back to school. Things are working for me now.”In the 2008/2009 farming season, I got 35 bags of maize.
“This time I am expecting not less than 50 bags. I have no doubt this year I will get my biggest harvest ever.”
Mbuya Chirimanyemba is one of the 10 000 small-scale farmers in Guruve district who are currently receiving inputs support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), through its European Union Global Food Facility.
The scheme currently benefits close to 200 000 small-scale farmers across the country.
“It does not help to just sit back and say we are old, we cannot do anything.
“Everyone knows that this place is very hot, but if we really commit ourselves, we can do something,” said Mbuya Chirimanyemba. Her husband, Lameck only returned home last year after a deserting the family for eight years.
Although Guruve is generally known to be a dry area, the farmers’ woes have been compounded by changing climatic conditions.
The head of Mavhunga Village, Teddy Chihoko said it was becoming more and more difficult for them to plan ahead because the rains had become erratic.”These days it is difficult to tell when the rains will start,” said
Chihoko.
“In the last few years we have been using it, this conservation agriculture programme has proven to be very useful in helping farmers prepare on time.”It has helped us a lot to develop as a community and to fight poverty.”However, Chihoko said the programme still faced challenges as some beneficiaries sold their donations to other farmers who may have received nothing or little.
Leviticus Mashange, the district agricultural extension officer for Guruve, said there were still many challenges convincing farmers to adopt conservation agriculture methods instead of relying heavily on draught power.
“All we are doing is to complement the farmers’ effort, enlightening them on the importance of conservation farming; how it helps them overcome problems of lack of implements,” said Mashange.
Judas Phiri, the district supervisor for the Sustainable Agriculture Trust (SAT), which is implementing the project on behalf of the FAO and EU, said agricultural output for this farming season was much higher for those
farmers who used conservation farming compared to those who used draught power.
“We are trying to tell them that everybody can get a higher yield if they plant on time,” said Phiri.
“Those who are not in the programme (of conservation farming) planted late. By the time they finished planting, our crops were already at knee height.”A former white commercial farmer who now works as a consultant for the project, Ian Henderson, said initially there was widespread resistance to the new methods, but the number of those who embrace them continues to grow. He said they were expecting each of the farmers to harvest an average of one and half tonnes per hectare.
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made last month said 11% of this season’s maize crop was a write off but analysts say Zimbabwe is facing a much bigger food crisis due to poor rainfall and lack of inputs.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE