Hunger in Manicaland - starving in the midst of plenty

Zebedia Sithole stared blankly at the sun baked ground and squint his eyes in the blistering afternoon sun.

He remarked dejectedly: "I hope this year we will have a better farming season". Sithole picked a lump of soil and threw it violently into a nearby shrubbery as he tries to find a safety valve for his boiling frustration and anger. But it seems Sithole's dream of a good rainy season is just pipe dream as his area, Hot Springs in Chimanimani district, has rarely recorded a normal farming season for decades.

And attempts by local farmers to venture into small grain farming have yielded limited results and year in year out people in the area have been living through the grace of God. "Life is becoming unbearable here and it seems the weather is becoming hotter with each passing day. It is a curse, our gods are angry with us," Sithole said disconsolately.

Hot Springs is one of the hottest areas in Manicaland province. It is semi-arid with sparsely populated Acacia and Mopani trees. Throughout the year, the area carries an aura of death with giant baobab standing forebodingly in the scotching sun. Most of the local villagers are into livestock farming and growing crops has become remotely unviable. "It is however sad that we are starving when across the Odzi River in Chiadzwa lies among the world's richest alluvial diamond deposits," Sithole said adding that: "It is a typical case of starving in the midst of plenty".

Although estimates of the diamond reserves contained in Chiadzwa area vary wildly, some have suggested that it could be home to one of the world's richest diamond deposits. The hugely prolific fields are regarded by some experts as the world's biggest diamond find in more than a century. But for the poor villagers there is little to show for this big diamond find.

Sithole is one of the more than 2 million people across the country facing starvation. Though the government has stepped up maize importation from Zambia to feed the starving populace, there are however limited financial resources to cover the whole country. Grain Marketing Board depots dotted around Manicaland have no grain stocks. United Nations World Food Programme estimates that up to 2, 2 million people in Zimbabwe are in need of food aid.

And the latest Zimbabwe Vulnerable Assessment Committee (Zimvac) report says 15 percent of 209 364 households in Manicaland province were in a critical situation. According to the report the most affected areas include Nyanga North, Mutare, Chipinge, Makoni, Buhera, and Chimanimani where villagers continue to survive on food hand-outs from donor agencies and the government.

But some people have questioned why the newly christened 'diamond province' was failing to harness the rich resource to feed the province. Manicaland is one the richest provinces with abundant mineral resources. According to various other researches, even the city of Mutare is sitting among the richest mineral resources in the province.

And the government has been challenged to use revenue from the vast mineral resources to revive collapsed irrigation infrastructure in the province to address the food shortage.

Manicaland provincial administrator, Fungai Mbetsa recently told journalists in Mutare that the food situation in the province was dire. In some areas of the province, he said, villagers had resorted to selling off their cattle, which is their only treasured wealth, to buy maize meal as the crisis worsens.

"We need to be frank, the food situation is not pleasing," said Mbetsa. And he added: "We need to revamp the irrigation schemes across the province. Manicaland can be self-sustaining. Nyanyadzi centre is now a dying growth point because of failure by government and every one of us to procure and install pumps into Odzi River." And as the government move in to respond to calls by the poor villagers, pumps worth about $800 000 have been acquired for Nyanyadzi and Nenhohwe in Chimanimani and Bonde in Buhera.

The irrigation schemes collapsed in the past decade, amid a plethora of challenges. The government has already contracted a private company -- Pump Systems Africa -- to rehabilitate the irrigation schemes. The irrigations scheme have been affected by a combination factors chief among them obsolete pumps, uninhibited siltation and vandalism of pipes.

The House of Assembly Member for Chimanimani West, Munacho Mutezo, said revamping irrigation infrastructure would go a long way in alleviating poverty in the province.

And according to media reports the government has also secured a US$98 million loan from Brazil to fund the mechanisation of the agricultural sector, including rehabilitation of irrigation schemes, as part of Government's thrust to improve food security.

And as the rain-fed agriculture is becoming unattainable, investment in irrigation infrastructure by the government is a welcome development but there is need for buy-in from the private sector in the province.