Calvin Manika
VILLAGERS in Hwange are claiming food insecurity and hunger despite the country registering a bumper harvest following the good rains.
In some parts of Hwange rural chances of a bumper harvest were high after receiving good rains and villagers receiving climate-proofed agriculture inputs, a programme popularised as Pfumvudza/Intwasa.
A visit by The Zambezi Times to Katete village revealed that, after a successful farming season most of the fields became feeding troughs of baboons during the day and elephants during the night.
Human/wildlife conflict resulted in sleepless nights for villagers and in some instances others lost their lives after being trampled by elephants.
Despite a successful agricultural season countrywide, most of Hwange rural villagers are in need of food aid to augment their little harvest.
In Katete ward, villagers are pleading with the National Park of Zimbabwe authorities to strengthen their efforts in the prevention of human/wildlife conflict.
“Wild animals always give us a hard time, this year we expected a good harvest, and our crops did well because we had good rains. Elephants came and destroyed our crops. We plead with the National Park authorities to intervene lest we remain destitute,” said Prince Munetsi.
Another villager, Senzeni Sibelo of Katete village also added her voice: “We had good crops which we worked hard to protect from the baboons. But in the end it all came to nothing as elephants destroyed almost everything when the crops were ripe.”
Most of the villagers in Hwange received the Pfumvudza/Intwasa inputs. Pfumvudza, a government initiative aims at increasing farmers’ resilience and ensuring food self-sufficiency for the nation.
The project hopes to address the problems of low levels of productivity and production, making the country’s farmers and households more resilient to climate shocks and ultimately ensuring food security in Zimbabwe.
Many Hwange villages are situated within the precincts of the Hwange National Park. The set up for years has resulted in wildlife to roam the villages destroying crops.
“We did well in our fields for the first time in about four years. But, elephants destroyed our crops. As I speak, we don’t have anything. National park authorities should do something for our protection, especially for the coming season. We are in great need of food assistance, we are surviving on hand-outs,” said another villager Elijah Shoko of Matenji village.
