UMP villagers’ water plight alleviated

damFarai Kuvirimirwa Features Writer
In the scorching heat of Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe, a fish eagle hovers in the sky in anticipation of a catch in the muddy waters of the nearby Chipinda Dam. Its wings are spread wide in the clear blue sky before the eagle perches onto a baobab tree in the proximity of the water body. Muddy waters dominate the peripheral areas of Chipinda Dam and the buzz of flies on the water weeds fills the air from a distance.

Forty-six-year old Mrs Gracious Munyoro of Mutata Village in the district has been spared the dry spell common in the area.
The area falls under Natural Region 5, which is characterised by below normal rainfall patterns.
Livestock, especially goats, thrive very well perennially.

As Mrs Munyoro sits on the verandah of her cow dung floored hut pondering her next move in her efforts to fend for children especially their school fees. Her predicament is not isolated.

Most villagers depend on conditionally given food aid from non-governmental organisations.
There came a ray of hope when the World Food Programme (WFP) partnered the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to establish nutrition gardens that will conduct all year irrigation activities in the area.

The two institutions considered rehabilitation exercises at Garamuswe, Nyanzou, Chipinda, Nyamubadura, Nyakarowa and Magudu dams under their Productive Asset Creation Cash/ Food for Asset Programme.
The programme also includes dip tank rehabilitations and sales pens establishments.

During a tour of the programme, Mrs Munyoro narrated her past ordeal saying: “We used to struggle way back because of cows which would break in and eat all the agricultural produce especially at this time of the year. When we get part-time employment for manual labour, I would work for US$2 per day despite the hard work involved.

“I have nine children and I had to support them with the $2 I earned per day for weeding other people’s fields. It was not sufficient for food and paying their school fees. Currently, in the garden, I can get 15 bundles per week and sell them to earn US$15.”

Mrs Munyoro says she currently spends most of her time at the garden where she grows vegetables for barter trade for mealie-meal.
“Because of the garden, I bought a goat which will have a kid soon. I have 9 children with one who completed his Ordinary Level studies but is looking forward to proceed with education. All my children look up to me for support.

“The garden next to the dam used to be a bush and we united to create it due to hunger and we were paid for all the work we did by UMCOR despite the garden benefiting us at the end. Demarcations of the garden were done in the presence of an extension officer and there was no segregation on orphans and widows in the whole process.
“There are 29 men and 31 women who include seven widows and an individual has 26 beds which he uses to farm sugar-loaf, beans, rape, tomatoes and onions,” she said.

Another villager who participated in the dam rehabilitation exercise, Mr Luckmore Zinyuke, said the farmers contribute money to buy required chemicals, seeds and implements.
“Our dam level is now better compared to other years and previously our cattle used to get stuck in the mud before the rainy season while trying to reach clean water. We have since raised the dam wall and spill way and previously all the water would flow away,” he said.

Mr Oswald Matimura of Magudu village hailed the initiative and said they used to travel more than 13 kilometres with their cattle to the nearest diptank.
“It was difficult to recover lost cattle and we used to cut several trees every year in an effort of resuscitating the dilapidated diptank. Our cattle would die from red water and liver fluke because larger beasts could not fit in the dip tank,” he said.

Mr Zinyuke said the dam supports 60 horticulture farmers, the surrounding village and more than 5 000 cattle, goats and sheep.
In an interview during the tour of the projects, acting district administrator, Mr Knowledge Chikanya, hailed the initiatives saying they were different from cases where people would continuously expect to receive food handouts.

“The community saw the need to run from dependency and we are really grateful for the intervention because it is in line with the food and nutrition cluster in the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset). It is known the district falls under region five which has scarce rains and the water does not last long enough to the prejudice of villagers.

“The villagers rely mostly on their livestock and the water bodies will provide water sufficient enough for the animals and gardens throughout the year,” he said.
WFP Communications Officer Mr Tomson Phiri said the Productive Asset Creation Cash/Food for Asset Programme was meant to make people self-reliant.

UMCOR deputy head of mission Mr Tendai Mutemadombo said their organisation plans to venture into more projects in the same district and establish cattle sales pens which would increase value to the people’s livestock.

“We consulted various ministries who gave ideas, developed sales pens and bring buyers who include abattoirs that can offer better prices to villagers for their animals. The nutrition gardens are meant for them to farm vegetables which are important to supplement their diet,” he said.

“We conducted the projects in close collaboration with relevant communities’ structures and members. The plans originated from the communities and they have a sense of ownership. Dam rehabilitations were started by silt traps that were constructed to reduce siltation in the dams.

“Communities and local leadership have revived the dam committees prior to asset creation to address long-term asset sustainability. The nutritional gardens were sited in such a way as to avoid siltation in dams or rivers by following Environmental Management Agency (EMA) guidelines of placing them at least 30 metres away from the water source,” said Mr Mutemadombo.

Mr Mutemadombo further said cattle sales pens constructed under the programme ensured that there was a furnace to brand cattle after sales to reduce theft of livestock.
He said with the department of veterinary services and diptank committees, communities were trained in the correct mix ratio of chemicals used in the diptanks.

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