Floods drown hope for better harvest

After five years of consecutive drought and food shortages, farmers in Zimbabwe were hoping for a better harvest in 2006, but torrential rains over the past two weeks have dampened the optimism of many, particularly in northern parts of the country. When the planting season began in October 2005, Ngonyama Dlamini, a communal farmer the low-lying district of Tsholotsho in Zimbabwe's Matabeleland North province, had high hopes. The elderly Dlamini was looking forward to a bumper harvest that would see his family through to the next season. The time had come, he thought, for his family to graduate from being perennial candidates for humanitarian aid to becoming a self-sufficient household. Now the 65-year-old admits he is less optimistic. "My crops have been washed away and the whole field has become so waterlogged that I doubt if the remaining crops will recover," he commented. "We thought the rains were bringing in happiness, but now everyone has lost hope due to the destruction caused by the floods. It is so serious that we are living in fear of being washed away too. I have lost 10 goats and a sheep, 13 chickens, and all my huts have collapsed. My family is in trouble." Personal possessions were also swept away when floods hit Tsholotsho a few weeks ago for the third time since late December last year. Official statistics indicate that more than 200 subsistence farmers in northern and eastern Zimbabwe have lost crops and homes to raging floodwater. Humanitarian organisations like Save the Children (United Kingdom) have since weighed in with material support for those affected by flooding. Last week the NGO donated 100 emergency kits and tents to Tsholotsho victims. Each kit, meant for a family of five, consisted of a cooking pot, two metal plates, a dish, two mugs, a bar of soap and a 20-litre bucket of potable water. Save the Children relief officer Andrew Sithole told IRIN the villagers needed more help. Chief among Sithole's concerns was the possible risk of an outbreak of malaria. "It is general knowledge that Matabeleland North is a malaria-prone zone, and areas such as Tsholotsho have often been affected, even in times of average rains. So, basically, it goes without saying that the risk of malaria is advanced as a result of the floods." Agricultural experts noted that although chances were high that most parts of the country would record better harvests this year, the opposite could be said of flood-hit Matabeleland North. "The crops have since turned yellowish due to high water levels, and this basically means stunted growth. When the growth of crops, or any other plant, gets affected, then it becomes virtually impossible for it to bear any fruit. Its reproductive system becomes grossly affected to the point of infertility," said Edward Mkhosi, an opposition MP and member of the parliamentary agricultural portfolio committee. A specialist with the state-run Agricultural Research Extension (AREX), who wished to remain anonymous, told IRIN that farmers in Matabeleland North had also not received adequate inputs, such as fertiliser, and this would also impact on the harvest. "They might have planted to their satisfaction, but they did not get fertiliser. Technically speaking, loose soils require fertiliser, especially when there are adequate rains," the specialist noted. Veterinary and wildlife experts have reported that cattle and wild animals such as kudu, rabbits and small birds have not been spared by the ravaging floodwaters. They have also warned of an outbreak of diseases among animals.