By Tatenda Chitagu
MASVINGO-Nothing seems amiss at Tendai Maronge’s rural homestead in Zimbabwe’s southern province of Masvingo.
The neatly painted houses, a thriving orchard, lots of free range chickens, broilers, goats and turkeys all point to a normal rural life.
Not before she opens up on her ordeal of being left ‘high and dry’ by her husband of ten years who migrated to South Africa in 2017. He did not return and is not supporting his family.
Maronge (47), has been an economic widow since her husband of ten years went to look for ‘greener pastures.’
“That was the last time I saw him or heard from him. Since then, my husband with whom we share three children, has been living incommunicado.
“He went down south to look for a job but then remarried there and dumped us. He just communicated for a few months before going quiet. He never sends us money as he promised on leaving. He calls sporadically and he says he does not have any money for us,” she said, struggling to hold back tears.
But that was not the end of the world for Maronge, from the drought prone Mashenjere Village under Chief Shumba in Masvingo Central Constituency.
According to the World Food Program (WFP), three quarters of Zimbabwe’s 15 million people are in need of food aid owing to the climate change induced drought experienced in the last farming season, as well as the El Nino weather phenomenon.
The United States Aid (USAID), though the WFP, gave Maronge a new lease of life-and a better one for that matter, according to her.
Since 2017, she has been getting food aid in the form of cow peas, wheat, maize and a cash allowance.
“Before the intervention by WFP, I did not know where to start from. Things were really bad and my kids had dropped out of school because I did not have money for fees. I felt like an outcast and thought of committing suicide.
“We would have two meals a day, but now we can have three meals with nutritious food and a well-balanced diet. From the cash assistance, I would pay fees for my kids.
“Now the eldest of my kids who I raised alone is now a teacher and is married while the second one is now studying at a local university
“I started a small vending business and it would also generate me some income and I managed to buy goats, cattle, and chickens you see here,” she said, wearing a broad smile.
At the moment, she gets seeds, fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides, maize, velvet/coffee beans, stock feeds, peas and millet from a USAID supported program being implemented by CYMMT.
“We are now being given inputs and not money. We also got training on hen breeding, while another Non-Governmental Organisation supported by USAID, SNV, looks for markets for us. We were also taught about climate friendly farming,” she said.
Maronge is part of a village savings and lending group where they pool resources with other women and then share the money.
Maronge in front of her homestead
She has 38 full range chickens, 20 broilers, five turkeys, six goats and four cattle.
Maronge is not the only one whose life has been transformed by USAID when faced with hunger.
Veronica Zvoushe (46), a single mother of two from Matsikidze Village, Chief Shumba, started getting food aid while working at the construction of a weir dam funded by the United States.
“I divorced with my husband 14 years ago. All these years I was on my own and he did not support me and our child. During successive droughts, I struggled to put food on the table. The whole village can testify about the hardships I faced. Some would give me food here and there.
“They then recommended me for food aid and I started getting handouts in 2018 while working at the construction of Njovo Weir Dam. We got food aid even after the project for four years. The aid came in the form of a 50 kg bag of maize, four litres cooking oil and 11 kg peas per month,” she said.
Veronica Zvoushe
Zvoushe said apart from the food aid, the community also got a major boost from the dam which ensured they had water for their gardens, aquaculture projects and livestock. Zvoushe said villagers had lost many cattle in previous droughts.
“The dam has ensured we have enough drinking water for our cattle, as well as watering a community garden where we also breed chicken and do aquaculture.
“I sell produce from the garden and I have managed to venture into a wheelbarrow assembling business where I buy used drums, a wheelbarrow frame and wheels and then approach welders to assemble the wheelbarrows,” she said.
Zvoushe says each wheelbarrow costs US$50 and they are sold out now. She also buys shovels, sickles, slashers, shoes, and clothes from Mozambique for sale.
“I achieved all this because I was food sufficient first and could get excess produce from the garden which is watered by the weir dam we constructed with the help of the WFP,” she said.
Zvoushe and Maronge are among many people who have benefited from the USAID interventions countrywide.
Data availed by USAID reveals that close to a million people from Masvingo province have benefited from their assistance since 2020.
In 2020, USAID launched the Takunda and Amalima Loko resilience food security initiatives which aims to reach 145,000 households (489,000 people) in Manicaland, Masvingo, and Matabeleland North provinces over a five-year period (2020–2025). Food security, maternal and child health and nutrition, agricultural production and marketing, water and sanitation access, community risk management, and the empowerment of women and youth in rural areas are all improved by the activities.
In Masvingo Rural and Mwenezi districts of Masvingo province, the Zambuko Livelihood Initiative, which runs from 2020 to 2025, aims to enhance smallholder production, community resource governance, and access to markets and financing. The initiative focuses on women and young people, reaching 11,000 households with a total population of 55,000.
Every year, USAID provides funding for the World Food Programme’s Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) program, which provides food rations in return for involvement in the development or repair of community assets that enhance livelihoods and offer health and agricultural training. FFA is intended for 13,100 families, or 65,500 people.
USAID also launched a five-year (July 2020–June 2025) Feed the Future initiative in the agriculture sector, Fostering Agribusiness for Resilient Markets (FARM), which offers smallholder farmers technical support and training to help them expand their farms beyond subsistence farming. In order to improve climate-smart agricultural practices in crop and livestock production, FARM focuses on more than 44,000 households across ten districts in the provinces of Manicaland and Masvingo. Additionally, FARM increases farmers’ access to financing, fortifies ties with value chains, and bolsters household nutrition and hygiene.
Resilience is one of USAID’s environmental sector initiatives in natural resource management and conservation. For 38,000 families in the provinces of Manicaland, Masvingo, and Matabeleland, ANCHORS, a five-year (2020–2025) community-based natural resource initiative aims to improve livelihoods and increase natural resource management in communities near protected wildlife areas. In order to help communities, pursue alternative livelihood options like ecotourism, non-timber forest products, and the establishment of community conservancies, the activity offers training and technical assistance. Additionally, the initiative improves access to water for environmental, agricultural, and household requirements while bolstering private sector involvement and locally driven development.
Zimbabwe, which was once referred to as the “breadbasket of Africa,” has seen a number of political, economic, and climatic problems that have made rural communities more vulnerable.
In addition to decreasing resilience, frequent droughts, natural disasters, and uneven economic policies have increased shocks and pressures.
In light of this, USAID says it goes beyond providing emergency food relief.
“Against this backdrop, USAID partners with Zimbabwean communities, local organisations, and the private sector to address immediate food needs while building resilience to future shocks and stresses through short- and long-term interventions for vulnerable communities that include: increasing agricultural productivity through climate-smart agricultural technologies and practices; improving incomes, and diversifying livelihood options; promoting business skills; facilitating market links; promoting community-based accountability and governance through the management of community assets and natural resources; and improving nutrition and hygiene practices,” the organisation said in a factsheet availed to this publication.
“In Zimbabwe, USAID builds community resilience to shocks such as floods, droughts, and other natural disasters through programs that boost productivity, increase access to viable markets, and build productive assets such as small dams, dip tanks, and solar-powered community gardens. This work improves outcomes related to food, water, nutrition, and incomes for almost a million families,” adds the factsheet.