The Sunday News
AS the country continues to feel the burden of the El Nino induced drought, the situation in Matabeleland North’s Binga District is now desperate with some villagers resorting to consuming edible wild roots and fruits.
This comes on the backdrop of reports by the United Nations that declared Binga as the worst drought hit district in the country with the highest number of malnourished children and school drop outs. Further, according to the latest Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZImVAC) report, the district is ranked fourth in the country in terms of food insecurity. The district has 32,8 percent of its households being food insecure.
Sunday News last week visited some villages in Binga to assess the food situation and the news crew came across a dire situation with chiefs and other traditional leaders calling for an urgent programme to assist the villagers. Some of the areas visited included Saba, Siachilaba, Mlibizi, Simbala, Siabuwa and Kamativi. In a majority of the areas, villagers said they were eating traditional fruits like wild berries (umnyi and umtshwankela) and a root like delicacy which locals call busaka.
Villagers interviewed said although it rained recently, it was a little too late to plant. They further appealed for any assistance they could get from the Government and other donor organisations.
“Our area is usually drought prone even when the rest of the country gets normal rainfall, hence you can imagine how the situation is right now when the entire country is enduring a drought season. We are fortunate that our area is the one that is rooted in tradition hence when we were growing up our parents showed us wild plants, fruits and even roots which are consumable hence we are now relying on that knowledge to feed ourselves,” said 31-year-old Mrs Sifebane Sibanda from Simbala Village.
Another villager whom the news crew met while she was coming from her fields — Ms Justor Zulu — said the situation was better since it was a school holiday as when schools were opened they had to face the reality of sending their children to school on an empty stomach.
“Right now I am from my field and the only things which I got are these small water melons. In our culture, when you see yourself getting all this yield of water melons it is a clear sign of drought. As you might know we are also mainly a fishing area but it ceases to become a balanced diet if we just eat fish hence with this hunger we try to balance this with busaka and other wild fruits,” said Ms Zulu.
Sunday News also caught up with senior headman Tembo from Saba Village who said they were mainly worried about young children whom he said were not brought up to endure such hunger. He said although the area had once adopted the Isiphala Senkosi programme it was failing to yield results since the district had suffered two consecutive drought seasons.
“The situation has been even direr considering these two consecutive dry spells. We literally are living from hand to mouth; there is no extra food in our granaries. We also have to share with other families who don’t have anything.
“Some villagers have become so desperate that they are selling their goats for a single 10 kilogramme bag of maize or even less, that is how bad things are,” said Headman Tembo.
Chief Saba weighed in on the matter calling on the Government to launch a food for work programme, which he said would help alleviate hunger.
“We really need this food for work facility because our villagers are in need of food. One thing which I am confident of is that in terms of working my villagers can really work hence they are not crying for food handouts but they are prepared to work for that food,” said Chief Saba.
Senator Chief Siansali said they had received reports that some villagers were going for days without anything to eat, which he said was worrying hence the need for something to be done as a matter of urgency.
“It becomes worrying noting how big our district is. You can imagine that how many homesteads out there are going for days without anything to eat,” he said.
Recently, United Nations Resident Co-ordinator Mr Bishow Parajuli was quoted as saying 18 000 children in the district face severe malnutrition owing to food shortages. El Nino is a weather pattern which recurs every two to seven years, which has caused severe drought bringing hardship to 50 million people across Southern Africa.
According to the ZimVac report other districts which make up the top 10 with the highest food insecurity are; Umzingwane (40 percent), Buhera (37,8 percent), Lupane (33,1 percent), Tsholotsho (31,7 percent), Mwenezi (31,1 percent) and Hwange (28,9 percent).
Matabeleland North province — at 28 percent — further has the highest proportion of its rural proportion being projected to be food insecure during the peak hunger period (January — March), which is 12 percent points above the national average which is at 16 percent.
