The Sunday News
FARM produce from Umguza in Matabeleland North Province is safe for human consumption and will not lead to any health complications, a study has revealed, putting to rest fears that some of the crops might be unsafe as they were being irrigated by water from the heavily polluted Umguza River.
Early this year the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) issued a warning to farmers dependent on Umguza River to stop using the water after discovering that it contained high levels of metals and other pollutants that cause chronic illnesses to those that consume vegetables irrigated using this source.
The river is a source of water for Umguza lot farmers, which is one of the biggest irrigation areas in the province supplying an array of horticultural produce in various districts as well as Bulawayo.
The Department of Agricultural Technical and Extension Services officer for Umguza District, Mrs Shalene Mabarani, said tests from the soil and vegetable samples at a Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development laboratory revealed that consumption of vegetables produced using Umguza River water was not harmful to human health.
“All the plants (leaves and roots) collected in all the locations show metal presence, which are, however, within permissible limits. The soils within the surveyed area were found to be high in salts.
“This problem is likely to be the direct effect of use of water for irrigation with high salt content. Continuous use of high salt water increases the build-up in the soils. As a result water uptake by plant roots will increasingly be restricted,” she said.
Mrs Mabarani said farmers should apply ammonium sulphate fertiliser to reduce soil pH.
The soil pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity in soils.
“We are urging farmers to regularly take their soils for sampling to determine the level of acidity and avoid using Limestone Ammonium Nitrate and Calcium Ammonium Nitrate,” Mrs Mabarani said.
The farmers who depend on Umguza River and water sources near the river were once ordered to stop producing vegetables while villagers’ boreholes next to the river were sealed after the discovery that the water contains high levels of metals and other pollutants that can cause chronic illnesses.
Most of the produce from the farming area which includes cabbages, lettuce, carrots and tomatoes is sold in Bulawayo, a development that raised serious fears that a number of people could possibly be suffering from chronic illnesses or could have died as a result of consuming contaminated vegetables.
Farmers interviewed by Sunday Business said the revelations about the purported hazards of consuming vegetables produced in Umguza had had a negative impact on their business as most consumers boycotted their produce.
“The stories, which came out in the media about the hazards of consuming vegetables produce from Umguza, affected us negatively on the market side as we lost a lot of business with people losing confidence in our produce. I had opened a market in Victoria Falls but had to stop due buyer apathy,” said Mr Dumisani Ncube.
Other farmers said there was a need for effective monitoring of effluent being discharged into the Umguza River to minimise the level of pollutants in the water they use for irrigation.
