El Nino induced drought is proving to be a major fall back to farmers and cattle ranchers in Masvingo, as cattle

deaths increase. 

At least 30% of the population in Masvingo is food insecure as the El Nino-induced drought takes its toll on the

country's citizens. Government has declared the drought a state of national disaster and appealed for US$ 3

Billion in humanitarian assistance. 

The national disaster also affected Julius Siwadhi, a commercial farmer living in Muchakata village, Masvingo's

ward 17. El-Nino induced drought pushed Siwadhi to resort to feeding the few cattle left with parched maize

residues as the season reserved nothing for the Brahmans. 

As someone who relied on selling his harvests to the nearest Muchakata shopping centre and Masvingo town,

Siwadhi said he was left hopeless when predictions of poor rains started emerging last year. 

“This year our harvest was low because of the climate change. I used to harvest two and half tons, but this year

I haven't reached a quarter of that. But I would like to thank the program management as they managed to help

me during this hard time as I can now live during this dry season” 


“We have adapted to the climate change, and we can now handle the coming climate changes as well. So, there

will be happiness within homes and the greenness will be restored”, Siwadhi said. 

Ukama-Ustawi, an initiative that has been implemented in Zimbabwe amongst another eleven countries in

Eastern-Southern Africa has assisted  Siwadhi and other farmers in Masvingo to manage the devastating effects

of El Nino. 

“In better seasons, I used to grow rukweza, mapfunde, vegetables and beans. I also have cows, poultry and goats.

The phenomenon destroyed almost three and half hectares,” 

“Many farmers joined the program in 2017, but before 2017 no-one helped us. With the program now we are

food secure, and we have learned a lot including growing orange maize. We are also having trials whereby we

see which plants to grow,” he said.  


The initiative has so far helped over 20 000 farmers in the region. These include farmers like Siwadhi who depend

on farming to excel in their Agri- business. The organisation hosted a farm-to-farm share-fair in Masvingo where

they learned and also shared knowledge and farming skills.  

Farmers cry foul as El-Nino induced drought wreaks havoc

In an interview with Razorwire News, The Director of Water, Growth and Inclusion at the International Water Management

Institute (IWMI) & CGIAR Initiative Lead of Diversification in East and Southern Africa (also known as Ukama Ustawi) Inga

Jacobs-Mata reiterated that the share fair came as a way to engage with farmers across the Eastern and Southern parts of

Africa to share ideas as they were facing the same challenges as drought.


“We brought farmers from around five countries which includes Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ethiopia, Malawi and Kenya together to

learn and share experiences. They all have been experiencing drought, floods they all adopted climate smart agriculture

innovations in different ways, and this is about them sharing.  


“Also, as a science-based organisation learning from them and also share our experiences on the ground and on the field.

We see this initiative as enabling capacity building and capacity sharing. So that is always looking at finding different ways to

do that. In the five countries we have been working with we have helped about 20 000 people,” she said.  

The farming initiative introduced by Ukama Ustawi,  CIMMYT and CGIAR also attracted female youths like Susan

Chinyengetere who has been engaging in the mother trials farming initiatives which were introduced by the partner

organisations.  


“Farming has been a vocation in Masvingo and has enabled the youths to refrain from drug and substance abuse. This has also

reduced domestic violence and early child marriages which were once normalised in the city as most villagers will be busy in

the fields and at the market, Chinyengetere said. 

 “As a young lady farmer in Masvingo, they are many youths who have been learning a lot from me. Now I’m like their mother

as I am disseminating the knowledge and skills, I have garnered from this initiative. My wish is for this program to pursue for

others to also benefit from it. This has also minimised domestic violence and drug abuse cases as most of us are now focused

in the farming sector”. Chinyengetere added.