Farmers feel drought sting, elephant herds destroy crops in Mbire

Mazowe North,Pembi Chase farmer, Billy Chifodya

 By Daniel Chigunwe

Several farmers in Zimbabwe are faced with one of the most grueling season after the skies have failed to give the precious rains to the scorched crops which are thinning due to prolonged exposure to the high temperatures whilst villagers in Mbire are wailing over the destruction of crop fields by marauding herds of furious elephants declaring hunger war to the province of Mashonaland Central.

The drought has even seen several districts from the agrarian province of Mashonaland Central extending a begging hand to the government to increase more food relief allocation with Guruve District already feeling the sting of this dry season.

The Media in Communities Development Trust this week visited young farmer, Billy Chifodya (22) of Plot Number 22 Pembi Chase farm, Mazowe North Constituency who expressed disappointment of this year’s season dryness saying his hope for a better future has been heavily compromised.

“It is quite a difficult farming experience for many of us farmers after the current season showed little mercy for us. We have been met with so many farming challenges with the failure of rains to come as the major excruciating reality.

“I had planted a considerable hectare of maize and tobacco which had a promising potential of making a bumper yield however with the drought I am actually seeing that I can now only harvest about 30 percent of the expected yield which is something disappointing for a young farmer like me,” he said.

This farming season has also been heavily affected by price hikes which have seen almost every commodity priced three times more than the original price with a 50kg bag of Compound D priced at $100 RTGS at one time affecting seasonal budgets by farmers.

“The other challenge which faced many of the farmers was the issue of price hikes which took effect at the beginning of the farming season that seriously affected us.

“ As farmers we do make our budgets before we start the season meaning when manufacturers hiked inputs prices we were not prepared for such hefty charges and in a way it inconvenienced us to a larger extent,” added Chifodya.

Meanwhile in Mbire district the remaining hope of a better season has been thwarted by elephants which are reportedly wreaking havoc in the field damaging the drought spared crops.

Villagers in Mbire and some parts of Muzarabani District have called for the urgent intervention of Problem Animals Control (PAC) and responsible government authorities to capacitate the tragedy as several fields are being ravaged by herd of furious elephants.

Also as measures to mitigate drought effects amid global climatic changes, Gwebi College of Agriculture has called for farmers to awaken to the call for conservative agriculture saying there is hope for increased yields if farmers apply CA as part of good agronomics practice.

Katswe Sistahood makes strides in Mbire girl child empowerment

Katswe Pachoto groups: Picture by Collen Magobeya

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Daniel Chigunwe  

Kastwe Sistahood with support from Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) Zimbabwe has made a formidable impact in the Mbire District of Mashonaland Central where it is conducting several projects that have seen a reduction in the number of child marriages, empowerment of girl child education and equipping of local leaders with social accountability knowledge skills.   

 Mbire is one of the province’s district that has for a longtime been lagging behind almost all facets of human development until recently when different stakeholders among them the First Lady Mrs Auxillia Mnangwagwa, provincial leaders and Non -Governmental Organizations have scaled up efforts to transform the Dande area which also has numerous opportunities for eco-tourism. 

Katswe Sistahood is a young women’s organization which focuses on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) issues that affect women and girls by aiming to improve the information that communities have on SRHR whilst trying to understand the root causes of women’s plight with VSO work focusing on gender equality, improved health systems and support for people affected by HIV and AIDS. 

Fadziso Mawunganidze who is the organization’s Programmes Officer said their involvement in the district has made a considerable impact which has also seen a remarkable decline in the number of teen pregnancies. 

“Through action initiated by the Mbire project, girls affected by teen pregnancies are now back to school and there has been a decrease of girls dropping out of school in ward 8. Due to the redress of penalties, cases of child marriages have turned out to be lesser. 

“Also through peer education and basic counselling to their peers there has been an evident boost of confidence in young girls. The program has created a strong supportive family structure especially to girls affected by early marriages and teen pregnancies,” she said. 

The organization’s activities are a response to the worrying statistics on the provinces state of SRHR issues, “according to the 2017 Demographic Health Survey, Mashonaland Central has the lowest human development indicators and literacy level is very low thus when it comes participating in developmental process they are left out. 

“Mbire district has the highest number of child marriages perpetuated by a range of social, economic, cultural and political factors but fundamentally rooted in poverty and gender inequality. 

“ Child marriages have declined from 24 girls per year to two girls from 2017-2018 and at least three girls were readmitted to school in 2018 whilst they were pregnant and the other two young women wrote Ordinary Level exams whilst six of them are currently going for lessons,” said Mawunganidze. 

Meanwhile the organization is running a goat project in the area which has reached out to 275 young women who are in 11 groups of 25 people each, with the intent to provide economic empowerment and self- sustainability to the many of these young women. 

“As Katswe we have built the young women’s resilience in ward 8 and 10 so that they can be able to be confident when articulating issues that affect them when accessing health services. They have a goat rearing project that is helping them on their livelihoods and economic empowerment as they are now able to buy some of their groceries,” 

The young women’s organization is also carrying a range of activities among them, training of Junior Councilors, Chiefs and MPs, resilience meetings building capacities of communities to absorb stress and shock as well as quiz and debates at schools as a way of measuring growth in knowledge, abilities, skills and confidence building.

Guruve call for more drought relief food

By Daniel Chigunwe
Mashonaland Central, Guruve North district has hailed the president’s food relief program at a time when the drought spell has threatened hope for many farmers but has also called for the government to include various social groups as several households are now seriously affected by hunger and water woes.
Speaking in an interview during the maize handouts in Bakasa, Guruve North legislator Cde Grover Dzepasi said several people in the whole constituency have been hit by hunger and water problems following a prolonged period of high temperatures which are characterizing the country’s weather.
“I want to recognize the efforts by the president through the food relief program that has seen several people who are of the old age and those living with disabilities getting maize to alleviate hunger problems.
“Many people here have completely discarded hope from getting a reasonable yield from their fields, thus our appeal is that the scheme also starts recognizing the various social groups and become inclusive. Even the young families are in dire need of food as we speak.
“Also, Guruve is one of the places which is perennially affected by water problems and this time the problem has been worsened by the drought, people are having challenges to access water and it will be better if we get more borehole drilled here,” said Dzepasi.
Another Guruve villager from ward 20 Bakasa area said there is no more hope for the crops, “it is unfortunate that in our area the few crops that had survived are being invaded by the baboons. Many here have built in the mountains and have no more access to water as many wells have dried up,” said Riamu Kamuzonde.
Guruve has from time to time been affected by water challenges.

Analyst decries Mash Central political conspiracies

                                   By Daniel Chigunwe

Mashonaland Central province is currently going through a lacerating period of political upheaval, political conspiracies, back biting and it is rumoured some power hungry wolves are crouching in wait and busy scheming the so called party purging targeted at Kazembe Kazembe.
 Analysts have described ongoing events as the coordinated work of the G40 cabal who are working tirelessly, day and night to disturb peace in the Zanu Pf party stronghold.
For the Mash Centralians there is a mixed feeling towards the current state of things however many have called for an end towards a high sense of political polarization in province which has a tendency of undermining the economics ahead of politics mantra from the New Dispensation.
The resemblance in the political fashion of the same events in Mash West has made political analysts to conclude that these are the mere acts of the G40 cabal meant at destabilizing the status qou.
Recently, following the poor attendance of Zanu PF party supporters at the Mt Darwin Thank You rally, the province’s war veterans association has been reported to have went on to pen a petition to recall the Kazembe Kazembe led provincial structure.
However, the matrix seems to point out that the vitriol has nothing much to do with the Mt Didi Rally but that there is a crouching lion somewhere in the affairs of the liberation war fighters eyeing the party provincial chair.
“If one follows the ongoing battles surrounding the provincial structure in Mash Central he will detect a hidden agenda that is not constructive but rather targeted at satisfying some personal interests from whoever is pushing these agendas.
“ Kazembe Kazembe has fought many battles during the primary elections to have the party intact which probably explains why the province has managed to retain all the 18 constituencies and leading in number of presidential votes, that is clearly a success given that the province was actually the home ground of the G40,” said an analyst.
This is not the first time that the province has been threatened with faction battles especially if one revisits the era of the Gamatox and the G40 which had their roots in Mash Central and left the province politically divided.
“The political volatility of Mash Central explains why it is still lagging behind development because of its high political bickering.
“yes we have the land, minerals and we are the bread basket of the nation, however excessive political polarization will only serve to relegate us down the national development chart, no investor will come to us when he senses the state of polarization in the affairs of the province,”.
More to follow…

The Zimbabwe Matrix

Youth blasts confrontational politics

By Daniel Chigunwe
Mashonaland central based Unemployed Youth Organisation (UYO) members have called for young people to refrain from confrontational politics which is associated with activism and protests saying there is need to pin hopes on dialogue and national healing to attain vision 2030.
In an interview, the organization’s secretary Austin Nyakupinda who was a former member of Tajamuka/ Sesijikelele and among the seven arrested for protesting against the implementation Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016 in Beitbridge said there is need to adopt a new approach to politics which is rallying behind the New Dispensation efforts.
“As a youth organisation which is in existence to lobby and push for government to create jobs as well as implement practical policies that can see young people getting employment we feel obliged to partner with the Second Republic.
“We have to move away from a confrontational approach to a politics, we are a learned people and hence we have to understand the importance of dialogue which translates to peace, there has to be no place for violence led by the youth again in Zimbabwe,”.
Nyakupinda has been at the forefront of youth activism and has been a former member of the Elton Mangoma led Coalition for Democrats however but now laments how young people are being used for the political gains of selfish opposition leaders.
“By refraining from confrontational politics it means young people can no longer be susceptible from manipulation. We are being used as pawns in a game of chess. Even if you check the recent protests that rocked our country young people were on the forefront,” he added.

Local News

Council in Kuruneri stands scandal

By Daniel Chigunwe

Residents protesting at council office

Mvurwi residents on Friday stormed council premises demanding answers over the allocation of about 100 stands to the former constituency’s legislator Chris Kuruneri beneficiaries in a suspected land scam involving Housing and Welfare Officer.
Scores of protesters holding placards danced and sang at the Mvurwi Town Council and threatened not to disperse unless their petition was answered by the management which was reportedly said to have taken leave holidays forcing council chairperson Charles Hodobo to convene a firefighting meeting with leaders of the protest.
Speaking during interview the protestors’ spokesperson Gift Chikuse said their issues were specifically directed to the Housing and Welfare Officer, Mrs Letwin Watambwa.
“Our main issue is with Mai Watambwa and we accuse her of trying to hijack our own self developed Kurai Housing Scheme which we serviced alone, we also realized later that council had allocated unscrupulously about 100 stands to beneficiaries of Chris Kuruneri.
“When Kuruneri got into office in 2002 he bought his Zanu Pf supporters about 100 stands as a token of appreciation for voting him, unfortunately when Kuruneri was fired from Zanu PF the council management somehow misused the money he had paid for which we understand was a cheque of about $ 2 million.
“Thereafter, when we started our scheme in 2011, Kuruneri beficiaries started pushing council demanding for their stands, instead council forced these people on our scheme but we demanded that they give us the money we used to develop these stands as we were a self -developing scheme,” said Chikuse.
Kuruneri stands beneficiary Mrs Irene Kantunda said the former MP bought the serviced stands in full though the council took it about more than 10 years to allocate them these stands, “the stands were bought after we were arrested for defending Kuruneri against opposition party in 2002, it was a form of a token of appreciation for the role we had played for his win as MP and since then the council dilly dallied to allocate us the stands.
“Eventually they settled us at Kurai Housing Scheme which was a self-developing scheme without remitting the service fee to the scheme members hence we want the council to clear the air on this issue,”
In an address to the protestors delegation Hodobo said council was going to revisit the Kuruneri issue before giving feedback.
“We need to revisit this issue of Kuruneri, it is unfortunate that you met us for the first time as a committee, we need to look at how the stands were bought, how they have been applied by Kuruneri and why they were missed in the first register. If we come up with a tangible and good position to the Kuruneri issue we have got a date which we have promised to give feedback which is 24 January 2019,” he said