‘Doing’ Zim-Asset down in Kanyemba, Zambezi Valley

03 Aug, 2014 - 06:08 0 Views
‘Doing’ Zim-Asset down in Kanyemba, Zambezi Valley Some of the Kanyemba villagers ready to leave for Zambia with their farm produce for sale in that country last week.

The Sunday Mail

Mrs Plaxedes Shamiso uprooting some of her garden produce which she sales in Zambia as a way of survival

Mrs Plaxedes Shamiso uprooting some of her garden produce which she sells in Zambia as a way of survival

Kanyemba communities in this drought-prone area of the Zambezi Valley seem to have embraced the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation.

Residents of the area have become exporters of fresh produce, which they grow along the Zambezi River and then cross that water body to sell in towns in Zambia and Mozambique.

A drive to the area last week revealed the extent that hard-working communities have, despite living in a dry area, put long hours into coming up with a sustainable livelihood instead of waiting for Government and donor handouts.

Nearly every household has a thriving vegetable garden. And nutrition levels are good as families eat their healthy organic produce, which also includes meat from livestock that they guard jealously from marauding wild animals, and fish.

The Shamiso family grows tomatoes, cabbages, onions, green maize and bananas, which they sell in Mozambique’s Zumbo and Zambia’s Luangwa three times a week.

Mr Tafirei Shamiso is a teacher at Chapoto Primary School and his wife, Plaxedes, works full time in the garden with two employees.

“I realised that my husband’s salary alone was not enough to cover all our needs and started this garden project. The two young men we have employed have helped us to do even better and produce more food which we sell all year round,” she says as she takes us around her premises.

She says there are ready markets in the two Mozambican and Zambian towns as fresh produce is in demand there. A bundle of vegetables is sold for ZK5, which is equivalent to US$1, which is the same price that six cobs of green maize also go for.

When paid in Zambia’s kwacha, she simply buys what she needs for her family on that side of the border.

She also sells her produce locally, talking some of it up to Mvurwi and Guruve.

Mrs Shamiso, from Nyaruparo Village under Chief Chapoto, says her two employees are the ones who usually cross the Zambezi River using canoes, whose operators charge US$1 per journey, though extra is charged for luggage. Each canoe can carry between 10 and 15 people, and there are several of them in operation.

To cross into Zambia and Mozambique, villagers access passes from the Immigration Department.

Mrs Shamiso says since she started gardening, she has had more disposable income and the family has not had problems paying their two children’s school fees.

With wild animals causing havoc in the area, they have built a hut near the garden and it is here they sleep as they keep watch against beasts such as the dreaded buffalo. Mrs Shamiso sells half-a-dozen eggs to locals for US$1.

Some of the Kanyemba villagers ready to leave for Zambia with their farm produce for sale in that country last week.

Some of the Kanyemba villagers ready to leave for Zambia with their farm produce for sale in that country last week.

Transporting people across the river is also earning canoe operators quite a bit of money, with several of them saying the business allows them to feed, clothe and educate their families.

The owner of a canoe inscribed “Panashe Water Transport”, Mr Bigboy Chinembiri, says he is a contented man because he never fails to put food on the table. On a good day he does six return trips, earning him between US$60 and US$80. In any given month he earns more than the roughly US$500 poverty datum line.

“My canoe carries 12 people a time with their luggage. I have been doing this for the past three years after leaving employment in Banket. I used part of my benefits to buy this canoe, which cost me US$1 500. Since then I have not asked for help from anyone,” he says with barely concealed pride.

Emilia Zindi recently in Kanyemba

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