The lives of communal farmers in the drought-prone Filabusi district in Zhulube are a perennial struggle. They survive on the scanty yields from their maize plots, occasionally augmented with handouts from the government and aid agencies. PAMENUS TUSO REPORTS.
“Life has been so hard for us here. Year in year out, we have been toiling in our fields – but the harvest has been eluding us because of poor rainfall,” said Miriam Ngulube.
The inception of Zhulube irrigation scheme, seven kilometres west of Mahole business centre in Filabusi, eventually brought relief to villagers by providing some food for their tables. But the project was sadly not a panacea for their financial woes.
So in order to earn extra money, co-operative members recently introduced aquaculture at the irrigation scheme. The newly-formed Zhulube Fish Production and Marketing Cooperative seeks to enhance crop and livestock production while at the same time providing a holistic diet – thus boosting household income and food security.
Fish ponds
“The fish production venture is basically a diversification of our irrigation project. Under this pilot project, we have established fish ponds in the irrigation scheme as a food security, income generation and livelihood initiative,” said Lukamba Mhlanga, the cooperative’s secretary. The cooperative recently secured a breeding stock of about 3 500 bream fish fingerlings from Kariba. So far two ponds with a total area of 2000m2 have been stocked with Nile bream fingerlings while the construction of another pond is still at excavation level.
“After six months, we are expecting that the two fish ponds will produce a total fish tonnage of almost 1, 200 kg .We are planning to sell the bream either fresh or dried. Our target market is mainly surrounding schools, restaurants, hospitals and the local market,” said the secretary.
Lucrative projects
Division of Livestock Production and Development (DLPD) Insiza district livestock specialist, Sarah Disman, said her department was currently exploring more integrated projects to go along with the fishery project.
“We want to train and encourage the farmers to venture into more complementary and lucrative projects such as broiler, dairy, honey production as well as orchard farming. The linkage between these projects has very important and significant benefits,” said Disman. The livestock specialist said droppings from the broilers fed to the fish in dissolved form are a source of nutrients for the fish while offal from slaughtered fish are fed to the broilers to supplement the regular feeds.
“In return residues are fed to fish and waste water from fish ponds can be used to irrigate crops and orchard trees while bees can collect nectar from the citrus trees to produce honey. Under the same concept crop residues can be used to feed dairy cows,” explained Disman.
Excited
Members of the cooperative are optimistic about the integrated farming projects and are confident that come February 2016, when they expect their first fish harvest, they will all be heading to the banks with smiles on their faces. “I am particularly excited about the fishery project because it is less laborious and not expensive to run. Through this venture, we are hoping to raise money for school fees for our children well as improve our diet” said Stabile Nyathi, a member of the cooperative.
Another cooperative member, Dorica Moyo said she is confident the projects will alleviate the financial woes facing the farmers as a result of the current economic challenges.
The Zhulube Aquaculture project is part of the $4,5 million European Commission (EC) funded four-year “Integrated and Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture Production for Improved Food Security for Vulnerable Households in Zimbabwe programme.
There are similar projects in eight other districts across the country including Binga, Kariba, Insiza, Umzingwane, Masvingo, Beitbridge, Mwenezi and Hwange districts . The project is jointly implemented by World Vision, Basilizwi Trust and Aquaculture Zimbabwe. It will end in October 2017.
World Vision operations director, Khumbulani Ndlovu, said the project seeks to improve the food security of 9 000 vulnerable households by creating a source of food and income, reducing their dependency on humanitarian assistance.
The project will also improve the nutrition and health of indirect and direct beneficiaries including children and pregnant women.