Council to slash residents' maize

Bulawayo City Council is planning to carry out its traditional slashing of maize cultivated along  streams and open spaces in the city.

Council officials say they have no regrets about the move as residents are ignoring warnings every year.

Council spokesperson, Nesisa Mpofu said the local authority warned residents against stream bank cultivation before the start of the rainy season, but the advice is ignored.

"Several awareness campaigns with community leaders and councillors were held at the municipal offices. Five wards were visited to assess the compliance," she is quoted saying.

She said  they would be "confiscating tools for those found cultivating along streambanks and issuing out tickets, while crops planted on these areas will be destroyed".

Since the rains started falling in Bulawayo, urban cultivation has gained momentum.

The city's residents have once again converted some non-developed land such as refuse dumping grounds, abandoned stands and available open areas into agricultural land.

Residents are busy working the pieces of land they have allocated themselves to grow the to staple maize crop.

Most open pieces of land in Bulawayo's high and some low-density suburbs have been or are being cleared, as residents toil to plant the crop which until the 1990s was the major source of livelihood and food for the rural population.

But urban dwellers are now planting it to make ends meet.