BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

PUSHING a wheelbarrow with three 20-litre buckets of water at least 10 trips a day to water a garden is never an easy task.

This is, however, what elderly women in Bulilima district ward 1 in Matabeleland South were used to in their gardening activities close to Tjankwa Dam.

Due to these constraints, lack of knowledge among other things, productivity in the garden remained very low.

“When we started we were using wheelbarrows and our heads to carry water to water our garden and it was very difficult. Some of us even wanted to quit, but we soldiered on like a woman in labour,” Patience Zambuko (56), who chairs Greathope Garden, said during the official handover of the equipment last week.

In their horticultural garden sitting on nearly one hectare of land, the group, consisting of 10 women and six youths. They grow tomatoes, okra, cabbages, rape, and leaf vegetable chomolia, among others, for commercial and sustenance purposes.

They also produce sugar beans and sweet potatoes.

“We use the proceeds from this business to fend for our children and grandchildren. We also pay for their school fees,” Zambuko, a grandmother of nine, said.

The group’s secretary Zanele Ncube said each member was paying R10 subscription fees every month to boost their coffers.

“We used part of the money to buy five bags of cement to build a toilet. We also bought three rolls of fence to keep our garden secure. Our aim is to start a grocery shop,” she said.

From the beans which they recently harvested, Ncube said they realised about R4 000.

Unlike maize which one can harvest once, with horticulture it is right round the year and it gives farmers the potential to boost their livelihood options and income.

HHZ, whose main aim is to help poor and marginalised people create better livelihoods for themselves and their families in rural Zimbabwe, donated solar-powered borehole equipment which includes water pumps, two water tanks, solar panels and a fence to two groups of farmers, Greathope and Thembelani.

The groups, operating as a cluster, came first in a competition carried out by HHZ among other four groups.

Instead of giving the farmers prize money of US$1 500, HHZ in consultation with them, decided to donate a solar-powered borehole which cost about US$9 300.

Thembelani Garden chairperson Clara Sibanda (61), whose group also benefited from the donation, commended HHZ for coming to their rescue.

“We are very thankful to HHZ for donating this borehole to us. Surely, this borehole will go a long way in assisting us achieve our dreams. Sesiphumile emabhareni and we are forever grateful. With this, I don’t think there will be any woman who would want to quit at this time,” Sibanda, a grandmother of 10, said.

Thembelani Garden is sits on 0,6 hectares of land, cultivating the same fresh produce as Greathope Garden.

It consists of 10 members, including men.

HHZ is also working with more than 20 groups in the country’s seven districts, empowering them with business skills, costing, customer care, recordkeeping as well as connecting them to larger markets, among others.

Through its interventions, HHZ has made great strides in the fight against poverty in Lupane, Nkayi, Bulilima, Gwanda, Shurugwi, Chikomba and Chirumanzu.

Another group which has benefited from these trainings is Thokoza Flea Market.

Members said they “used to ask for money from our husbands” but following the trainings, “now we don’t beg for money, we are financially independent.”

Last year, for instance, after being equipped with information, they managed to raise about $14 000 from their business.

HHZ business development manager Lindani Maphosa said: “As HHZ, we are not going to give you fish, but teach you how to fish.”

She urged groups to cost their products competitively so that they can grow their businesses.

“Make sure that you don’t cost your products as retailers. You are producers. If you overcharge, customers will leave you. If you competitively cost your products, you will be able to reach big markets,” she said.

She also urged them to register their businesses and use social media to market their products.

Bulilima Agritex official Sharon Masuku commended HHZ for empowering women, saying the move would contribute a lot towards food security while an official from the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation urged the women to incorporate youth in their projects.

Bulilima deputy district development coordinator Ethel Maponga-Bvekerwa, who was the guest speaker, said the project would go a long way in uplifting the Bulilima community.

“We have been empowered socially and economically. Hence, let’s work very hard so that we can have a bright future for our children. With such projects, women can stand for themselves and be financially independent,” she said.

“They can be able to look after their children even after their husbands would have died. I would also like to urge you to own this community project. We don’t want this to be a white elephant a few years to come. Empower your children too for continuity and sustainability purposes.”

HHZ CEO Felix Tete said their projects were aiming at helping groups to increase production and productivity.

“So having won the prizes, after the competition we felt it would be an investment sort of prize. We wanted to help the groups in their areas of need like the protection, fencing material and drawing water closer to their gardens so that they can increase on the production and then they meet market demand,” he said.

“What we have basically done is, having drawn water nearer, we then hope the groups will increase production and sell the produce competitively so that they can try and lure customers.”

Tete said they wanted to give farmers coping strategies against shocks that can come from climate change, declining economy and socio-political problems.

“If there is climate change, there is water here, if they do conservation structures they try and irrigate and with the little irrigation that they do, then they try and help feed families,” he said.

Bulilima, which falls under Plumtree, is prone to droughts, thus improved access to water through solar energy will lead to increased resilience, enhanced food security and better adaptation to climate change.

According to the latest United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs situation report for Zimbabwe, more than 4,5 million people in the country are facing starvation during the 2020/21 lean season which usually starts in September to March.

After benefiting from the solar-powered borehole donation, Zambuko aims to grow big.

“There are no two ways about it, we want to increase production and become one of the biggest vegetable suppliers for Bulawayo and other cities,” she told Southern Eye on Sunday.