Sustainable Development Goals Series

Zero Hunger

Mark Matsa

Climate Change
and Agriculture
in Zimbabwe
Sustainability in Minority Farming Communities
Sustainable Development Goals Series
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Mark Matsa

Climate Change
and Agriculture
in Zimbabwe
Sustainability in Minority Farming
Communities
Mark Matsa
Midlands State University
Gweru, Zimbabwe

ISSN 2523-3084     ISSN 2523-3092 (electronic)

Sustainable Development Goals Series
ISBN 978-3-030-51345-0    ISBN 978-3-030-51346-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51346-7

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Preface

Zimbabwe is predominantly a poor agrarian economy in Southern Africa

where majority of households (over 65%) are rural and anchored on the ever-
dwindling natural resources whose capacity is suffering the burden of climate
change and climate variability. While the whole country is not spared from
climate and related hazards, the northern half has the advantage of being bet-
ter endowed with higher rainfall and temperature regimes and these, together
with more fertile soils, act as cushion to agro-communities in districts therein.
Districts in this richer half also have the advantage of more mineral resources
which enable households to double as panner-farmers as they pan for gold,
diamonds, chromite among other minerals. This means they have more mean-
ingful alternatives to cushion them against the vicissitudes of climate and
other hazards.
The southern and western districts are generally poorly endowed resource-
wise and have fewer fallback options in the face of climate and related haz-
ards. The crux of this book oscillates around the most vulnerable indigenous
minority farmer communities from these south-western regions who also
have the disadvantage of habiting some of the country’s driest and hottest
three districts, namely Beitbridge, Binga and Bulilima. These communities
occupy what can safely be regarded as the country’s periphery socially, eco-
nomically and politically, and the author’s concern was what hope do these
communities have in the face of climate change and variability in a country
that has been struggling for the past 20 years with its economy. What makes
the concern dire is the fact that the national economy is agro-based, yet the
very base of that agriculture is suffering serious battering from climate change
and climate variability.
Globally, politics has the weakness of not listening to the minority, weak
and voiceless. Sustainable development goals, however, call upon all nations
and communities to play their part in promoting sustainability without fear or
favour. This study endeavours to give a voice to the voiceless, almost forgot-
ten indigenous minority farmer communities of Zimbabwe’s south-western
districts so that they may get assistance to carry them towards sustainability.
It is not that communities which comprise the Venda, Suthu and Tshangani
in Beitbridge; Kalanga and san in Bulilima and Tonga in Binga have no solu-
tion to hazards befalling them. No! These communities are not just waiting
for an external injection, a panacea. They have been adapting to their environ-
ment and changes thereof for decades and in some cases centuries, and they
have been managing. They have developed indigenous home-grown solutions

v
vi Preface

which have worked for them over generations. Climate change is unique in
that it is eroding and threatening their survival base which is the ecological
environment itself, which all these years has been a resource frontier for com-
munities over the years.
The biggest problem for all study communities in this book is water. Both
surface and ground water resources have significantly dwindled in south-west
Zimbabwe, and this has negatively affected indigenous minority farmer com-
munities. Most of their survival strategies have succumbed to water stress.
Communities, however, argue that if they get water, most of their problems
will be overcome. The study thus develops a sustainable framework for the
development of minority farmer communities from what the communities
gave as their ‘indigenous basket of priorities’. The author argues that sustain-
able community development can be achievable if it is premised on a commu-
nity-initiated development basket of priorities where they enunciate their
immediate and long-term needs as informed by their indigenous knowledge
systems and interpreted from their natural environment. This approach could
substantially contribute in having indigenous minority farmer communities
achieve five sustainable development goals, namely Goal 1 (no poverty),
Goal 2 (zero hunger), Goal 3 (good health and well-being), Goal 10 (reduced
inequalities) and Goal 11 (sustainable communities).

Gweru, Zimbabwe Mark Matsa

Acknowledgements

This book is based on ideas and opinions given by indigenous minority farmer
communities in Beitbridge, Bulilima and Binga districts of south-western
Zimbabwe on their coping strategies to climate change-related hazards in
their farming endeavours, various government departments and NGOs
involved in crop and livestock farming in the three districts. Quantitative rain-
fall and temperature time-series data was obtained from the Meteorological
Services Department (MSD) in Harare to compliment the data from commu-
nities. Appreciation also goes to Midlands State University for sponsoring all
fieldwork trips to Binga, Bulilima and Beitbridge districts. Through Chief
Executive Officers and local traditional leaders for the three districts, I give
special thanks to all research participants who contributed in different capaci-
ties to this book.

vii
Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1
Rationale and Purpose of the Book������������������������������������������������������������   3
Zimbabwe Climate Change Policy Framework ����������������������������������������   5
Analysis of the Study Area������������������������������������������������������������������������   6
The Structure of the Book��������������������������������������������������������������������������   7

Climate Change and Lessons from World Indigenous Minority
Communities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Climate Change, Indigenous Knowledge Systems
and Rural Livelihood Strategies����������������������������������������������������������������  11
Minority Communities’ Coping Strategies to Climate Change����������������  12
Traditional Knowledge Systems and Climate Change������������������������������  14
Constraints Encountered by Indigenous Minority Communities��������������  14
Roles of Government and Non-­governmental Organisations��������������������  15
Climate Change and Food Security ����������������������������������������������������������  15
Global Minority Communities and Climate Change ��������������������������������  16
Government and Non-­governmental Organizations Interventions������������  16
Community Participation in Climate Change Adaptation ������������������������  18
Global Minority Communities, Vulnerability
and Management Practices������������������������������������������������������������������������  18
National Awareness and Capacity��������������������������������������������������������������  19

Impact of Climate Change in Zimbabwe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Climate Change and Rural Communities in Zimbabwe����������������������������  21
Climate Change and South-Western Communities������������������������������������  22
Climate Change and Livelihoods Constraints for Rural Communities������  24
Zimbabwe Government Approaches to Climate Change��������������������������  24
Climate Change Awareness Initiatives in Zimbabwe��������������������������������  25
Government and NGOs Involvement in South-Western Zimbabwe����������  26
Climate Change and the Role of International Non-profit
Organisations in Zimbabwe ����������������������������������������������������������������������  28
Post-independent Zimbabwe’s Development Context
and the South-Western Districts����������������������������������������������������������������  29

Rainfall and Temperature Fluctuations in Southwest Zimbabwe. . . 31
Annual Rainfall and Temperature Time Series Graphs ����������������������������  31
Statistical Tests for Temperature for Study Areas��������������������������������������  34
Statistical Tests for Rainfall for the Three Districts����������������������������������  37

ix
x Contents

Coefficient of Variation for Rainfall in the Three Districts������������������������  39

Mean Annual Rainfall Coefficient of Variation ����������������������������������������  39
Mean Summer Rainfall Coefficient of Variation ��������������������������������������  39

Climate Change Impact on Indigenous Minority Farmer
Communities in Southwest Zimbabwe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Evidence of Climate Change in South-Western Zimbabwe����������������������  47
Local Leaders Perceptions and Experiences on Climate Change��������������  47
Voices of Women on Climate Change and Minority Communities ����������  49
Indigenous Households Livelihoods Strategies and Climate
Change in South-Western Zimbabwe��������������������������������������������������������  50
Household Strategies for Coping with Climate Change������������������������  50
Experiences of Community Elders and Local Leaders��������������������������  52
Observed Climate Change-Related Household Coping Strategies������������  54
Coping Strategies for Livestock Sustenance Under Climate Change��������  54
Community Pastoral Strategies Under Climate Change����������������������������  54
Community Leaders, Livestock and the Climate Change Threat��������������  55
Climate Change and Views on Community Livestock Sustenance ����������  56
Farm Residue: Feed for the Future������������������������������������������������������������  56
Seed as a Climate Change-Related Constraint for Minority Farmer
Communities����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  57
Community Leaders’ Perceptions of Climate Change Constraints ����������  57
Climate Change Constraints and Minority Community Women ��������������  58

Interventions on Climate Change Among Indigenous Farmer
Communities in South-West Zimbabwe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Government Initiatives to Help Farmers Cope with Climate Change ������  61
Initiatives by NGOs to Help Farmers Cope with the Impacts
of Climate Change ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  63

Indigenous Minority Farmer Communities Development
Basket of Priorities in South-West Zimbabwe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Bulilima Farming Communities and Climate Change������������������������������  65
Binga Farming Communities and Climate Change ����������������������������������  68
Beitbridge Farming Communities and Climate Change����������������������������  70
Minority Communities and Climate Change Policy in Zimbabwe������������  72
Climate Change and Minority Communities’ Development
Basket of Priorities������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  73
Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Way Forward����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  81
General Recommendations for All Three Districts��������������������������������  81
District-Specific Recommendations����������������������������������������������������������  83
Binga District ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  83
Beitbridge District����������������������������������������������������������������������������������  83
Bulilima District������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  84

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
 Introduction
Climate change defines alterations in the long-­
term average conditions of the climate, persisting
for unusually longer periods, which can be
decades or generations (USAID 2007). These
changes may be due to natural or persistent
anthropogenic alterations in the composition of
the atmosphere or land use. Climate variability,
on the other hand, refers to unusual changes in
the spatial and temporal state of climatic vari-
ables. Climate change has manifested itself in
uncharacteristically long and more frequent
droughts, floods, more severe winter tempera-
tures in some areas, while others have experi-
enced warmer winters and even hotter summers.
These weather and climate extremes have, to a
large extent, been attributed to both El Nino and
La Nina phenomena (USAID 2007; IPCC 2014;
Brazier 2017; UN Climate Change 2019).
Climate change impacts, which are expected
to be mainly negative, are likely to be felt mostly
by the already vulnerable communities in eco-
nomically less-developed countries. This will
exacerbate inequalities in health status and access
to adequate food, clean water, sanitation and
other resources. Most developing countries in
Africa, Asia, The Americas outside the United
States and Canada, are generally poorly equipped
both financially and infrastructurally to fend for
themselves from climate change impacts. Most
of these countries, mostly in Africa, already have
serious problems, which include poor health
facilities, ill-equipped education institutions,
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Matsa, Climate Change and Agriculture in Zimbabwe, Sustainable Development Goals Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51346-7_1
high rates of illiteracy, unacceptable child and
maternal mortality rates, malnutrition and gener-
ally poor transport and communication networks
(Ravindranath and Sathaye 2002). All these prob-
lems, coupled with rapid urbanisation, growing
young populations and economies highly depen-
dent on imports, make developing countries
already vulnerable, even before adding the cli-
mate change burden.
Climate variability has always been experi-
enced in Southern Africa. The emerging chal-
lenge though is the expected increase in variability
as a result of global climate change. During the
1991–1992 drought in Zimbabwe, average annual
precipitation fluctuated from 335 to 1004  mm
and averaged 640  mm (Hirji et  al. 2002).
Recurrent droughts and sporadic seasonal floods
that have been experienced in the region have
resulted in the loss of human life, livestock and
property. They have also caused severe localised
shortages of the main cereal crops like maize and
other food items.
The composition of the earth’s atmosphere
has been seriously altered by humans since the
pre-industrial era. The unabated use of fossil
fuel currently accounts for more than 80% of
the carbon dioxide being added into the atmo-
sphere (IPCC 2001; IPCC 2014; Funder et  al.
2017). Land use and land cover changes, for
example, clearing land for timber, ranching,
crop farming and settlement account for between
15 and 20% of current carbon dioxide emissions
1
2 Introduction
(Zhakata 2008). Implications of climate change
for Zimbabwe are serious. The number of years
with below-average rainfall is increasing.
According to Zhakata (2008) and Brazier
(2017), there are signs of a gradual warming in
both summer and winter temperatures, and
models suggest that south-west Zimbabwe’s
largest city, Bulawayo, will experience a mini-
mum rise in daily temperatures of 2.7 °C before
the end of the twenty-first century. A survey on
farmers’ perceptions of climate change in
Zimbabwe by Masendeke (2008) indicates that
farmers have noticed changes in the quantity,
quality and efficacy of rainfall. There is a gen-
eral decline in the amount of rainfall, which is
more pronounced in the semi-arid tropics, the
largest part of which is constituted by south-
west Zimbabwe, the study area.
In Zimbabwe, observations show that temper-
atures have been increasing steadily from the
1970s putting stress on agriculture and water sec-
tors, which are key to economic growth. The last
three decades have seen increased variability in
day-time and night-time average temperature.
There have been increased incidences of intense
rainfall interspaced long dry spells and late-onset
and early cessation of rains (GoZ 2016; Brazier
2017). The increased variations in rainfall and
temperature are having profound impacts on the
agricultural industry, food security, hydro-energy
generation and downstream climate-sensitive
economic sectors. The increased frequency and
severity of droughts and floods, the shift in onset
and cessation of the rainfall and increasing inten-
sity of mid-season dry spells in the last 50 years
have been attributable to climate change.
Zimbabwe has an agricultural economy which is
generally rain-fed. It has a rural population of
more than 70%, which depends on subsistence
agriculture for livelihood (Chagutah 2010; GoZ
2016; Brazier 2017). This makes most sectors of
the national economy sensitive to extreme
changes or shifts to weather and climatic pat-
terns. Droughts and floods have led to serious
food shortages and famine in recent decades.
Despite the high susceptibility of Zimbabwe to
climatic fluctuations, very little research has been
carried out on climate change, particularly on
coping strategies of indigenous minority farming
communities, most of whom occupy marginal,
remote, hot, dry regions of the country. There is a
serious lack of community-specific and house-
hold-specific data demonstrating their vulnera-
bility. Communities, however, have been
witnessing the gradual changes in climate over
the years, and have been attempting to cope,
albeit with mixed success. Few studies have tried
to highlight, map and interrogate these coping
strategies by communities for possible develop-
ment and improvement, despite the fact that this
is what has made them resilient to this day
(Chagutah 2010; Brazier 2017).
The period 2000–2009 witnessed unprece-
dented skills flight from Zimbabwe. This, coupled
with inadequate funding of all government sec-
tors, has significantly debilitated the capacity of
ministries, institutions and departments tasked
with the implementation of climate change-­
related policies and strategies. Major climate
change-related institutions include the
Meteorological Services Department,
Vulnerability Assessment Committee, National
Early Warning Unit and Ministry of Agriculture,
Water and Climate.
Although many farmers are aware of cli-
mate change, many still view its effects in the
light of normal seasonal climate variability.
There is, therefore, a need to raise awareness
of the effects of climate change among farm-
ers. This awareness must relate to adaptation.
Emphasis must be on the implications of cli-
mate change for farmers’ choice of farming
methods, timing, crop type and seed varieties
(Chagutah 2010).
The demographic structure in Zimbabwe’s
rural areas is skewed in favour of women (sex ratio
1:16), where livelihoods are intimately linked with
the exploitation of the threatened natural resource
base (Frost 2001; Feresu 2010; Brazier 2017).
Researchers widely acknowledge that the negative
effects of climate change are likely to hit hardest
on poorest communities. Since women form a pro-
portionally larger population of the poor in com-
munal and resettled areas, their vulnerability to the
effects of climate change is likely to be more than
that of their male counterparts.
Rationale and Purpose of the Book
Rationale and Purpose of the Book
Mitigation and adaptation measures need to be
urgently identified and vigorously pursued both
at local and international levels for meaningful
and effective global climate change interven-
tions. However, this has not been the case.
International debate, resources and action have
been more inclined towards mitigation than adap-
tation (Downing et al. 1997). This is an easier and
more comfortable route for developed countries
because they have the confidence and capacity to
adapt to climate change. Developed countries are
more concerned with reducing industrial emis-
sions in line with the Kyoto Protocol. Developing
countries, for which adaptation is more urgent
and preferable, are forced into adopting mitiga-
tion strategies despite their obvious vulnerability.
The major reason for this anomaly is the fact that
these countries are overly dependent on devel-
oped countries in terms of financial resources and
technical expertise which guide development.
Most developing countries are using develop-
ment blueprints borrowed from developed coun-
tries that finance their implementation. There is,
therefore, little space for them to manoeuvre out-
side the given prescription, lest the assistance
rendered is withdrawn.
It was only after the IPCC Third Assessment
Report in 2001 that the issue of adaptation began
to gain some attention. Since then, adaptation has
grown to become an urgent policy priority,
prompting action both within and outside the cli-
mate change negotiations. At the Conference of
Parties (COP 8) in New Delhi, adaptation was
explicitly included. At COP 11  in Montreal,
Canada, adaptation was a theme in side events.
However, when many countries made presenta-
tions on adaptation, it was realised that many
adaptation programmes proposed were based on
poverty alleviation (Winrock International 2006;
Funder et al. 2017).
Various sources in the adaptation literature, as
well as work of the IPCC, suggest that environ-
mental change indicators from different regions
of the world can help scientists and various com-
munities to develop more sustainable pro-
grammes to consolidate adaptation efforts
3
(Olmos 2001). Thus, documenting successes in
adaptation and/or coping strategies in the context
of semi-arid environments like south-western
Zimbabwe may be of some value in efforts to
address vulnerability and adaptation to climate
change by equally vulnerable global indigenous
farmer communities. Poor countries, like
Zimbabwe, and poor regions (like south-west-
ern Zimbabwe) are thought to possess limited
adaptive capacity because of their limited
endowment or access to resources, technology,
education and wealth. Consequently, poor coun-
tries/regions are expected to be at the cutting
edge of climate change and variability impacts.
The vulnerability and poverty overlap creates a
need for stakeholders to create policies and pro-
grammes designed to reduce poverty. For vul-
nerable groups like minority communities,
adaptation mechanisms are essential. Failure to
adapt could, according to Downing et al. (1997),
lead to “significant deprivation, social disrup-
tion and population displacement, and even
morbidity and mortality”.
Indigenous traditional communities in most
parts of the world are dependent on natural eco-
systems and agrobiodiversity for which they are
also custodians. In agricultural landscapes, this
diversity is maintained through various forms of
traditional management. International discus-
sions on programmes and policies to address cli-
mate change have, however, ignored the
potentially helpful strategies which have been
used by and have sustained indigenous communi-
ties over the years (Platform for Agrobiodiversity
2012). Under its general framework, the
Declaration of Indigenous Peoples of the World
to the Conference of Parties (COP 17) in Durban,
South Africa, indigenous peoples of the world
called upon the United Nations climate change
meeting (COP 17) to recognise and strengthen
the fundamental contribution of the traditional
knowledge. They also impressed upon the need
to have their sustainable livelihoods, innovations
and practices, including their cultural and spiri-
tual aspects to be respected (Declaration of
Indigenous Peoples of the World to COP 17,
2012). They demanded that all mitigation, adap-
tation, evaluation, recovery and development
4 Introduction
actions should incorporate indigenous peoples’
knowledge and technologies. They demanded
that this should be subject to the free, prior and
informed consent of indigenous people whose
indigenous experts’ full participation must be
guaranteed.
This book, therefore, seeks to demonstrate,
through empirical research, that indigenous and
traditional agricultural communities have experi-
enced climate change over the years, and have
indeed developed corresponding indigenous and
traditional livelihoods strategies which have
worked for them and, hence need to be respected
in any quest to help such communities. These
communities have since been adapting to climate
change using locally spawned initiatives based
on their indigenous traditional knowledge. These
initiatives have helped them strengthen their
resilience to the changing and variable climate.
The livelihood approaches being adopted include
the use of centuries-old traditional practices and
their adaptation to changing conditions as well as
the development of new approaches. The IPCC
report (Adger et  al. 2007; Funder et  al. 2017)
fails to consider the critical importance of adapta-
tion and mitigation approaches developed at dif-
ferent levels of the agro-productive system,
especially at community and farmer levels. The
2010 Cancun Agreements of Mexico, however,
state clearly that adaptation should be country-­
driven. It should also be a transparent approach,
sensitive to gender and must be participatory.
Vulnerable minorities, communities and ecosys-
tems must be carefully considered in adaptation
initiatives. Local indigenous knowledge systems
must take centre stage in all these initiatives.
Considerations of the impact of climate
change and variability on women’s roles and con-
tributions to household livelihoods are central to
lasting solutions for development and commu-
nity adaptation to the challenge of climate
change. This is relevant for indigenous minority
communities in south-west Zimbabwe where
men usually look “south” to South Africa and
Botswana, leaving women as de facto heads of
households (Matsa and Matsa 2011). Climate
change adaptation would help even out the
skewed rights and privileges to power, resources
and sometimes knowledge which, in most cases,
favour men, yet both genders are engaged in the
productive processes. Gender-based discrimina-
tion negatively impacts communities’ ability to
adapt.
The close relationship of indigenous minority
farmer communities in south-western Zimbabwe
with their natural environment makes them espe-
cially sensitive and vulnerable to climate change
and variability. The economy in these farming
communities is heavily dependent on subsistence
agriculture and sustainable livelihood. Without
purposive and adequate interventions, food secu-
rity may forever remain elusive in this semi-­
desertic environment. An identification of specific
manifestations of climate change at local level in
this region can contribute to the search for effec-
tive solutions and counter-mechanisms of the
same. An evaluation of strategies, which commu-
nities have used over the years in their endeavour
to cope with and adapt to climate change and vari-
ability, can assist in formulating a locally informed
indigenous development plan. Apart from being
rooted in the community, the plan will also be sus-
tainable as the community would claim it as their
brainchild. A comparison of endogenous (com-
munity-initiated) and exogenous (imposed) devel-
opment initiatives can assist in crafting a
pragmatic development initiative, which takes
into account the experiences of local communities
as well as the innovations of modern science.
Community-based research output on climate
change and variability in Zimbabwe (and other
Southern African countries like Botswana,
Namibia and northern parts of South Africa) is
still scanty, hence such information would enrich
the inventory in this respect. Climate change and
variability impacts in Zimbabwe are currently
viewed and understood from a national level
(macro level), which makes them a “government
problem”, yet in rural communities like those in
south-western Zimbabwe, the impacts of climate
change and variability are real. This study thus
provides policy makers with important baseline
information on the impacts of climate change and
variability at community level (micro level). This
would help them formulate more informed
community-­specific policies.
Zimbabwe Climate Change Policy Framework
Indigenous minority farmer communities in
south-western Zimbabwe are some of the people
who occupy the country’s most peripheral areas,
which apart from being too far from the country’s
axis of development (the so-called Great Dyke
region), are also politically peripheral and often
outward looking to South Africa and Botswana
for socio-economic respite. This study is hoped
to inform development planners to formulate
policies which will make these communities
more inward-looking by addressing the core–
periphery disparities currently existent between
the wetter north and the drier south of the coun-
try. Despite being the driest region of the country,
south-western Zimbabwe has the least number of
dams and functional irrigation schemes. It is
within the scope of this study to inform and alert
policy makers and development planners of the
need to develop proactive development initiatives
for marginal regions, like south-western
Zimbabwe, which are more vulnerable to climate
change and variability by virtue of their geo-
graphical location close to the in-creeping
Kalahari Desert from Botswana.
With Zimbabwe’s demographic data showing
that more women than men live in rural areas
(sex ratio 1:16) where livelihoods are intimately
linked with the exploitation of the threatened
natural resource base, it is hoped that information
from this study will inform development stake-
holders about the necessity to empower women
(and the youth) through appropriate development
projects, policies and programmes meant to ame-
liorate the impact of climate change and
variability.
 imbabwe Climate Change Policy
Z imported either from outside the country through
Framework
The Zimbabwe government views climate change
as a direct threat to its socio-economic develop-
ment with a potential of reversing its hard-earned
developmental gains (GoZ 2016). Climate
change impacts in Zimbabwe have been observed
in climate-sensitive sectors of the economy espe-
cially rain-fed agriculture. This has made the
smallholder farmers, especially women and chil-
5
dren, highly vulnerable. Climate change is also
causing some new dimensions of poverty through
climate-related shocks as stressors and this is
compromising the country’s socio-economic
development. The 2017 National Climate policy,
therefore, seeks to create a pathway towards a
climate-resilient and low carbon development
economy in which communities have enough
adaptive capacity and continue to develop in har-
mony (GoZ 2016). To achieve this, the climate
policy is supported by the National Climate
Change Response Strategy, National Adaptation
Plan, Low Carbon Development Strategy,
National Environmental Policy, Renewable
Energy Policy, Forestry Policy and other related
policies and strategies aimed at achieving sus-
tainable development.
In 2013, the Government of Zimbabwe
launched ZimAsset (2013–2018), a 5-year devel-
opment blueprint meant to help the country
achieve sustainable development and tackle cli-
mate change in its Food Security and
Infrastructure and Utilities clusters. Although
both ZimAsset and the National Climate Policy
claim to be products of wide and all-inclusive
stakeholder consultation processes, National
Climate Policy in practice is more focused on
national development, which unfortunately is
more noticeable along the country’s “Axis of
Development” incorporating the Great Dyke and
the national watershed regions whose core is
Harare. Remote communities, like Southwestern
districts, hardly contribute meaningfully (because
of remoteness and also low levels of education)
or are their experiences with climate change and
aspirations for development taken on board.
Their developmental pathways are normally
NGOs or from Harare through government agen-
cies. There is no section in the National climate
Policy which hints on indigenous minority farmer
communities.
Indigenous Minority farmer communities are
in Natural Farming Regions 4 and 5 which geo-
graphically are Zimbabwe’s hottest and driest
areas. This means that these communities have
been experiencing harsh conditions over decades
and it is these same communities which are cur-
6 Introduction
rently on the knife-edge of climate change. To
implement the National Climate Policy uni-
formly across the country, therefore, disregards
the historical suffering of indigenous minority
farmer communities under climate change. This
book submits that there is need for affirmative
action with regards to both the contents and
implementation of the National Climate Policy
where there is a need to deliberately seek experi-
ences and aspirations of minority farmer commu-
nities and how they can best be assisted to develop
from their own perspective under the stewardship
of the government. For them a localised approach
to development, addressing their particular needs,
may be more desirable than a nationalistic
approach which in most cases isolates them and
drifts them to the periphery of national develop-
ment. Zimbabwe’s current national development
blueprint, The Transitional Stabilisation
Programme (2018–2020) is a quick win eco-
nomic stabilisation programme more inclined
towards achieving national economic develop-
ment than caring about peripheral communities
like those under study; hence, there is no hope
that the Transitional Stabilization Programme
will redeem these communities in any way in the
face of climate change–induced shocks and
stressors which continue to ravage the region.
Most of Zimbabwe’s indigenous minority
farmer communities are found in marginal areas
of south-west Zimbabwe. They include the
Venda, Shangani and Suthu (Beitbridge district);
the Kalanga and San (Bulilima district); Nambya
(Hwange district) and Tonga (Binga district).
Combined, they constitute less than 7% of the
national population. They are almost a forgotten
people whose way of life is in many ways
divorced from the rest of the country, yet they are
very much dependent on the natural environment.
These communities do not meaningfully partici-
pate or benefit from the national economy. They
mainly practise traditional farming with empha-
sis on pastoralism, which drives all the other eco-
nomic activities. Crop farming is rain-fed, yet the
region is very hot and drought-prone. With cli-
mate change and variability, these communities
are likely to suffer the most, given their unaware-
ness, inaccessibility and unaffordability of mod-
ern coping strategies. Central government in
Harare is too far and too preoccupied with other
more pressing national issues like the provision
of electricity, water and other essential services
to the more vocal and politically “important”
urban communities as well as agricultural inputs
to the agriculturally more productive northern
and central parts of the country. South-western
Zimbabwe, which is the least productive region
agriculturally, has received least agricultural
assistance from central government, yet it has
experienced the most significant evidence of cli-
mate change and variability. Against these odds,
these communities seem to have prevailed for
now. This book interrogates the resilience of
these communities against the effects of both
climate change and variability. It aims to assess
the coping strategies of indigenous minority
farmer communities vis-à-vis climate change
and climate variability and the extent to which
these strategies provide the basis for the
improvement of the quality of life for the
communities.
Analysis of the Study Area
South-west Zimbabwe covers most of the coun-
try’s south-western districts from Mwenezi and
Beitbridge in the east to Hwange and Binga in the
west. It borders with South Africa to the south,
Botswana to the west and Zambia to the north-­
west. Apart from being geographically periph-
eral, the region is economically marginal. The
basic and major economic activity is agro-­
pastoralism, mainly at subsistence level. Both
crop production and pastures are rain-fed and yet,
because of climate change, rainfall has become
erratic and variable even for drought-tolerant
crops like sorghum and millet (Chagutah 2010;
Brazier 2017). On average, the region has an alti-
tude of 900 m above sea level. Mean annual rain-
fall is between 400 and 700 mm with a coefficient
variation of 30–40% (Feresu 2010; Brazier
2017). Mean annual temperature oscillates
between 20 and 22 °C.
Soils in south-western Zimbabwe are mainly
regosols derived from the Kalahari geological
The Structure of the Book
sand system which stretches into Botswana
(Chenge et  al. 1998). These soils are generally
poor in terms of nutrient reserves. They have low
moisture retention and are very permeable. These
qualities limit plant production. Even under these
dire conditions, farmers grow the staple maize
crop, sorghum, millet and watermelons as major
crops.
Typical natural vegetation in south-west
Zimbabwe comprises brachystegia boehmii and
brachystegia speciformis tree species (Chenge
et al. 1998). These are on heavier soils and along
river valleys. In the Kalahari sandveld, which
includes Mangwe, Bulilima, Tsholotsho,
Beitbridge and parts of Binga district,
Colophospermum mopane low woodland
becomes more prevalent. The karro sandstone
soils of Kezi and Jotsholo support Combretum
colinum open woodland. The region has many
pans and these support secondary moist
grassland.
The love grass species is characteristic of the
region and it has influenced pastoral activities.
Though it has now been eradicated, the trypano-
somiasis vector (tsetse fly) has limited the poten-
tial for pastoralism in the north-western part of
south-west Zimbabwe (Matsa and Matsa 2011).
Inadequate water supplies have had the same
effect on the south of the region.
Main types of cattle in south-western
Zimbabwe are Nguni and Tuli. Apart from being
resistant to ticks, these breeds are efficient con-
verters of poor quality feed to draught power,
milk and meat (Hargreaves et  al. 2004). The
highly fertile Matabele are the main indigenous
goat breeds in the region. Although in relatively
smaller numbers compared to goat population,
the sheep breed common in the south-west is the
short, fat-tailed one which resembles the Chinese
pig (Hargreaves et al. 2004).
The region has limited economic activity. The
regional capital, Bulawayo, which was the coun-
try’s industrial hub at independence in 1980, has
been on a steady decline due to multiple political,
environmental, social and economic factors.
Chief among these factors are perennial water
problems and, recently (2000–2020), paralysing
land reform-related western imposed sanctions,
7
which resulted in many industries either closing
shop or relocating to the comparatively better
resourced capital, Harare. This reduced the
already limited prospects for employment. As a
result, many economically active people, mainly
males, continually drift either to neighbouring
South Africa or Botswana in search of employ-
ment (Matsa and Matsa 2011). This labour migra-
tion has resulted in a large proportion of
households in the region being female-headed. In
Gwanda, for example, 50% of households are
female-headed, and women make most of the
farming and pastoral decisions in the absence of
their husbands (Rohrbach et al. 2004) (Fig. 1).
Three out of the 18 districts which make up
south-western Zimbabwe were selected for this
book. Beitbridge was chosen because it has the
highest number of indigenous minority farmer
groups comprising the Venda, Shangani and
Suthu. Bulilima district was selected because it
has both the Kalanga and San communities and
suffers the climatic influence of the Kalahari
Desert in neighbouring Botswana. Binga was
selected because it has the Tonga indigenous
minority community who inhabit an area which
used to be tsetse-infested, is a malaria-prone zone
and still has a significant population of wild ani-
mals. All three districts are marginal, hot and dry
border areas with very little economic activity in
rural communities. They are also drought prone.
The Structure of the Book
The introduction provides the background to how
climate change has become a serious global issue
threatening lives and livelihoods. Fringe areas
and fringe communities like those in peripheral
South-western Zimbabwe are most at risk. The
chapter spells out the rationale and purpose of the
study and outlines Zimbabwe’s climate change
policy framework.
Chapter 1 takes a global exploration of cli-
mate change and variability in relation to the vul-
nerability context of indigenous minority
rural-farming communities. It identifies manifes-
tations of climate change in various parts of the
world and how vulnerable indigenous communi-
8 Introduction

Fig. 1  South-western Zimbabwe districts map showing sampled districts

ties endeavour to cope with the changes. Chapter 3 analyses rainfall and temperature
Indigenous knowledge is defined and its intricate trends in Zimbabwe’s South-western districts. The
relationship with minority indigenous farming data on rainfall and temperature figures were
communities explained in the context of climate acquired from the Meteorological Department in
change. Roles of governments and non-­ Harare. For comparative purposes, data were
governmental organisations in helping communi- divided into three generations from about 1922 to
ties cope with climate change in various countries 2012. Temperature and rainfall are the most impor-
are discussed with a view to learn experiences tant weather variables which impact climate
from other regions of the world. change and climate variability. Rainfall is a key
Chapter 2 gives an overview of climate climate variable for south-western districts
change in Zimbabwe before it narrows the focus because of minority farmer communities’ depen-
on communities, which inhabit the country’s dence on rain-fed agriculture and natural pastures
south-­western districts. The purpose of the for their livestock. Rainfall variability thus affects
chapter is to identify and evaluate constraints agricultural output and food security in this region.
encountered by communities in coping with cli- Chapter 4 presents manifestations of climate
mate change and variability in different parts of change as experienced by minority farmer com-
the country. The chapter also reviews and analy- munities in the three districts of Binga, Bulilima
ses government position on climate change. It and Beitbridge. Strategies used by these commu-
evaluates communities’ awareness of climate nities to cope with climate change and climate
change and assesses the impact of government variability are presented as expressed by the
and non-governmental organisations pro- communities. The chapter also discusses liveli-
grammes at community level. hoods constraints experienced by the farmer
The Structure of the Book
communities in their endeavours to cope with cli-
mate change. Communities’ assessments of sus-
tainability and impacts of government
intervention programmes and policies to mediate
impacts of climate are highlighted. The roles and
contributions of non-governmental organisations
and assistance are also presented in light of com-
munities’ developmental aspirations.
Chapter 5 identifies and discusses effort of
government and non-governmental organisations
in trying to help minority farmer communities in
South-west Zimbabwe cope with climate-induced
shocks and stressors. It tries to evaluate the effec-
tiveness of the interventions and how communi-
ties appreciate the assistance rendered to them.
9
The problem with most of the interventions is
that they are reactive rather than proactive.
Chapter 6 explores the implication and signifi-
cance of the arguments from this study. The dis-
cussion identifies minority farmer communities
“development basket of priorities” and uses this
basket to develop a model which could help these
communities cope better with the climate change
threat.
Chapter 7 presents conclusions and provides
general and district-specific recommendations
which could help the region capitalise on its com-
petitive advantages of some resources endow-
ment to compete with the rest of the country’s
other regions.
 Climate Change and Lessons
from World Indigenous Minority
Communities

 limate Change, Indigenous

C holds and, therefore, a key element in the fight
Knowledge Systems and Rural against poverty and social exclusion for many
Livelihood Strategies rural communities worldwide. Unlike formal
knowledge, indigenous knowledge is handed
Indigenous or local knowledge refers to a com- over orally from one generation to the next gen-
plete body of knowledge, know-how and prac- eration and is thus seldom documented.
tices maintained and developed by people Indigenous knowledge systems in upland
(generally in rural areas) who have extended his- Vietnam are rich and greatly varied in every
tories of interaction with the natural environment aspect of development, for example, conserva-
(Boven and Morohashi 2002). These sets of tion of nature, health protection, farming sys-
understandings, interpretations and meanings are tems, plant and animal varieties. The H’mong
part of a cultural complex that encompasses lan- people in northern Vietnam cultivate maize by
guage, naming and classification systems, prac- means of “rocky pocket agriculture”. This is
tices for using resources, rituals, spiritually and where the maize is planted in mountain sides in-­
world views. Indigenous knowledge can refer to between mountains forming patches or “pockets”
the knowledge belonging to a specific ethnic in areas where there is enough soil to support it
group, that is local knowledge unique to a given (Trung et  al. 2007). The pockets act as catch-
culture or society. It provides the basis for local-­ ments for both soil and water and provide some
level decision-making about many fundamental protection for the plants from elements of weather
aspects of day-to-day life which include hunting, like the wind.
fishing, gathering, agriculture and husbandry; Women are often the preservers of traditional
food production; water; health and adaptation to knowledge of indigenous plants and seeds (Karl
environmental or societal change (Nakashima 2010). Since they are the ones responsible for
2000). Indigenous information systems are supplying their families with food and care, they
dynamic and are continually influenced by inter- have a special knowledge of the value and diverse
nal creativity and experimentation as well as by uses of plants for nutrition, health and income.
contact with external systems (IIRR 1996). They grow traditional varieties of vegetables,
Using indigenous knowledge in development herbs and spices in their home gardens. Women
enterprises enables people and local communities also often experiment with and adapt indigenous
to actively participate in the decision-making species and this has important implications for
process (Boven and Morohashi 2002). Indigenous the conservation of plant genetic resources.
knowledge is a powerful resource for rural house- Women, therefore, represent an immense source

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 11

M. Matsa, Climate Change and Agriculture in Zimbabwe, Sustainable Development Goals Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51346-7_2
12 Climate Change and Lessons from World Indigenous Minority Communities
of potential and power to combat the increased
disaster risks associated with climate change.
Women in developing countries are on the front
line of adapting to climate change, with increas-
ing floods and droughts already impacting upon
their livelihoods. It is unfortunate, however, that
the importance of women’s knowledge and
expertise on biodiversity is often overlooked or
ignored by development planners.
Data show that more than two-thirds of the
world’s poor are women, even though women
make up only one-half of the world’s population
(Khan 2010). Discrimination is one of the major
drivers of women’s poverty. In rural communi-
ties, many women are prevented by law or cus-
tom from owning or inheriting land and this
makes them more vulnerable to poverty. Minority
indigenous women bear the brunt of marginalisa-
tion and discrimination because they are margin-
alised under traditional cultural roles within their
communities and also face discrimination from
the majority.
 inority Communities’ Coping
M from Surin Island were saved from the Tsunami,
Strategies to Climate Change
While the international community discusses
and predicts the potential impacts of climate
change on a global scale, for indigenous and
minority local communities, these impacts are
already a sad reality (McLean 2010). Mainly as
a result of historical, social, political and eco-
nomic marginalisation and exclusion, many
indigenous communities live on fragile ecosys-
tems that are already suffering the impacts of
other stressors and thus are more susceptible to
climate change.
Much of the climate change literature reflects
the approach of Western science which uses a
knowledge base built on systematic observation
to monitor changes in climate, provide forecast-
ing services and plan adaptation options. This is
despite the fact that systematic observations and
data availability are limited in many fragile eco-
systems like islands, mountainous, coastal and
arid and semi-arid ecosystems in which most of
the world’s indigenous people live.
In recent years, there has been an increasing
realisation that the observations and assessments
of indigenous groups are a valuable source of
local-level information, provide local verification
of global models and are currently providing
basis for local community-driven adaptation
strategies that are way past the planning stage
and are already being implemented and tested
(McLean 2010). Indigenous people depend
directly on diverse resources from ecosystems
and biodiversity from many goods and services
and these communities have historical climate
data that range from temperature, rainfall, and the
frequency of climatic events as well as current
fine-scale information that relates across all sec-
tors, including water resources, agriculture and
food security, human health and biodiversity.
Most indigenous communities have already
reported impacts from changing climatic condi-
tions on the terrestrial, coastal and marine eco-
systems on which they depend. The increasing
violence of cyclones and typhoon winds is par-
ticularly devastating to islands and coastal com-
munities. In December 2004, the sea gypsies
which devastated Thailand, by their elders’
knowledge to read the sea (Rungmanee and Cruz
2005).
Indigenous peoples’ ability to link events in
the natural world to a cycle that permits the pre-
diction of seasonal events has been a key element
of the survival of indigenous communities and
this has enabled them to develop localised sea-
sonal calendars that are finely tuned to local con-
ditions and natural events. In some countries,
sophisticated indigenous knowledge-sharing pro-
grammes have been established for indigenous
forecasting abilities such as the Indigenous
Weather Knowledge Website Project (IWKWP)
in Australia, which displays the seasonal weather
calendars of Aboriginals of central and Northern
Australia and is mainly funded by the Australian
Government (Australian Government Department
of Meteorology).
Other indigenous knowledge forecasting skills
and abilities include predicting rainfall using
temperature, plant and animals as indicators by
farmers of Burkina Faso; predicting rain and
Minority Communities’ Coping Strategies to Climate Change
drought in Gujarat, India; predicting the weather
in Russia by watching sea birds and clouds and
use of meteorological indicators and animal
behaviour to predict the weather in Sri Lanka
(McLean 2010).
In addition to providing seasonal forecasts for
supporting agricultural production, forecasting
also plays a role as an early warning system to
provide opportunity for improved emergency
response in vulnerable communities in the case
of extreme events like tsunamis, blizzards, heat
waves, strong winds and their resulting devastat-
ing impacts like fires and floods.
Many indigenous communities rely on tradi-
tional forecasting knowledge, often based on
early warning signs, for example, the appearance
of the sky or sea and changes in animal
behaviour.
Common strategies for minimising the impact
of natural disasters include maintaining a state of
constant preparedness for the disaster; finding a
safe place to wait out the disaster; relying on
domesticated animals to lead the way to safety.
Many indigenous communities have begun proj-
ects that catalogue their traditional knowledge as
it relates to disaster management.
Integrated agricultural systems based on
indigenous knowledge and traditional practices
provide many examples of sustainable and adap-
tive systems with potential to survive and miti-
gate major climatic changes (McLean 2010).
Agricultural adaptation strategies employed by
indigenous people include adjusting crop variet-
ies and planting dates, for example, mixed crop-
ping in Burkina Faso and rotational cropping in
the Indian Himalayas. There is also relocating
crops, for example, in Fuyana, where indigenous
peoples are moving from savannah homes to for-
est areas during droughts and have started plant-
ing cassava, their main staple crop, on most flood
plains, which are normally too wet for other
crops. Across Africa and Latin America, there is
change of hunting and gathering periods to adapt
to changing animal migration patterns and
improvements on agricultural techniques
(McLean 2010).
Other examples include soil conservation
techniques, for example, in Grenada, they prac-
13
tise contour ploughing to reduce soil erosion,
while in Cameroon they use the Ankara system to
manage soil nutrients. In Peru, one of the indige-
nous adaptive strategies used is the use of the
Waru Waru ancient irrigation methods (McLean
2010). In Egypt, adaptive food storage methods
to protect it from pests include burying grain in
the sand, while in the Philippines harvest rice is
stored in the attic to keep away mice with rising
smoke.
Traditional pastoral systems preserve natural
ecosystems through extensive ranching and rota-
tional grazing and by using a variety of livestock.
Nomads breed their heads over many generations
to make them fit in their often harsh and variable
environmental conditions. This has contributed
to the maintenance of bio-diversity in domesti-
cated animals (McLean 2010). These breeds have
developed traits that are so specific to their natu-
ral environment that their genetic stock has
become a valuable resource for breeding
programmes.
However, while cryogenic conservation of
semen preserves the genetic code, it does not
carry the information related to appropriate live-
stock husbandry of these breeds (McLean 2010).
For example, the Massai Pastoralists of East
Africa keep cattle, goats and sheep. They move
their heads throughout the year to optimise the
utilisation of rangeland resources for maximum
meat and milk production (Sandiga 1994). This
knowledge becomes extremely important during
exceptionally dry years when decisions have to
be made by the Maasai about where to graze,
which grasses recover faster than others and,
based on the availability of resources, what stock
should be culled first. In Iran, the Qashqai
nomadic communities also play an important role
in sustaining food production while at the same
time preserving the age-old livestock manage-
ment practices in drought-prone areas (McLean
2010). Other indigenous adaptive practices to
cope with droughts and reduced availability of
rangelands include adjusting timing for migra-
tion from summer to winter rangelands and pro-
longing migration routes.
Various adaptive traditional indigenous strate-
gies are being employed in areas that are
14 Climate Change and Lessons from World Indigenous Minority Communities
v­ ulnerable to water stress. The Char dwellers in
Bangladesh build mounds and construct their
dwellings to minimise damage from floods
(Hassan 2000). They also plant caltkin reed
(Saccharum spontaneum) to protect chars from
erosion. The warabandi system is a common
water allocation practice meant to cope with
droughts in India, Pakistan and Nepal. Degraded
land is rehabilitated using tassa planting pits in
the Tahoua region of Niger and by using the
indigenous Zai method of water harvesting prac-
tised by Mossi farmers in Yatenga province in
Northern Burkina Faso (Roncoli et al. 2001). The
indigenous Aymaran people of Bolivia have
adopted the traditional practices to collect water
in the mountains and pampas by way of contract-
ing qhuthanas. The bethma practise in Sri Lanka
promotes the temporary redistribution of lands
during drought periods to share water resources.
 raditional Knowledge Systems
T
and Climate Change
Preserving indigenous knowledge is proving
essential to the effectiveness of community-level
responses to climate change (McLean 2010).
This is taking place in different ways, for exam-
ple, some Russian communities have created
simple dictionaries which capture the climate
knowledge inherent in  local languages. In
Canada, the Canadian “Voices from the Bay”
project put ancestral knowledge of the Hudson
Bay bio-region into writing so that it is appropri-
ately transmitted and incorporated into environ-
mental assessments and policies and
communicated effectively to scientists, the inter-
ested public and the youth of the participating
communities (Voices from the Bay 1998).
In areas where there is relatively long history
of scientific and indigenous collaboration like the
Arctic, there are many case studies of indigenous
participation in scientific data collection projects
(McLean 2010). Modern forms of technology
like Global Positioning Systems (GPS), for
example, are incorporated into traditional activi-
ties by their Inuit to capture information from
hunters, which are then combined with scientific
measurements to create maps for use by the com-
munity (Thorpe et  al. 2002). In Papua New
Guinea, recording Hewa indigenous knowledge
of birds that would not tolerate habitat alteration
or shortened fallow cycles in a way that is useful
for conservation purposes was used to predict the
impact of human activities on biodiversity
(UNESCO Best Practices on Indigenous
Knowledge 2020).
In Canada, they use programmes designed to
enable indigenous people to contribute to scien-
tific environmental assessments. The Canadian
“Environmental Assessment and Saskatchewan’s
First Nations: A Resource Handbook”, for exam-
ple, is intended to provide an overview of envi-
ronmental assessment and to improve basic
understandings of environmental assessment,
identify how communities can be involved and
where resources can be accessed (Environmental
Assessment and Saskatchewan’s First Nations
2008).
Constraints Encountered by
Indigenous Minority Communities
The declaration on the right to development
adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1986: 1
defines the right to development as:
an inalienable human right by virtue of which
every human person and all people are entitled to
participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic,
social, cultural and political development, in which
all human rights and fundamental freedom can be
fully realised.
The office of the High Commission for Human
Rights (OHCHR) elaborates on the right to devel-
opment by explaining that the right encompasses
sovereignty over natural resources, self-­
determination, popular participation in develop-
ment, equality of opportunity and the creation of
favourable conditions for the enjoyment of other
civil, political, economic, social, and cultural
rights (GA Resolution 41/128).
Minority and indigenous women face multiple
levels of discrimination and marginalisation,
often not only from outside their communities
but also from within. Pastoralists women in East
Roles of Government and Non-governmental Organisations
Africa and the Horn of Africa, for example,
endure harmful customs such as female genital
mutilation (FGM) and must submit to decisions
made by male leaders on issues affecting them,
while continuing to have less access to public
services, especially as compared to provision in
other regions of the countries (Khan 2010).
Minorities and indigenous peoples are poorer
than other communities, their rights are not
being respected and they are not included in
development or other participatory planning
processes (Makoloo and Ghai 2005). The pov-
erty of marginalised communities is com-
pounded by the lack of both official and
unofficial data disaggregated by ethnicity, and
this keeps the problem of minority and indige-
nous poverty hidden and unaddressed. In Kenya,
for example, while president Moi (unlike
Kenyatta) included representatives of virtually
all of the tribes (including minority and indige-
nous communities) in his government, he only
did this for political support (Makoloo and Ghai
2005). Their inclusion did not lead to any politi-
cal, economic or social gains for the communi-
ties, instead, their situation worsened as they
slid deeper into poverty as well as social, cul-
tural and political alienation. Claims by particu-
lar communities for their rights to development
were often seen as threats to the unity of the
Kenyan nation instead of opportunities to make
all groups feel included and to ensure that their
needs were recognised.
While indigenous people organisations rightly
identify a number of limitations to the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) in terms of their
capacity to capture the structural causes of indig-
enous poverty, one of their major criticisms is
that indigenous peoples are invisible in country-­
wide assessments because of the focus of these
reports on general averages, which do not reflect
the realities of indigenous peoples (Tauli-Corpuz
2005).
However, minorities and indigenous peoples
are aware of and resent being treated differently
and having fewer opportunities. In their state-
ments to the United Nations Climate Change
Meeting (Cop 17), adopted by the International
Indigenous People’s Forum on Climate Change
15
(IIPFCC), the indigenous peoples of the world
declared under the section on “Adaptation and
Mitigation” the following demands, among
others:
• Guarantee respect, protection and promotion
of indigenous people’s traditional knowledge
and sustainable livelihoods, including the cul-
tural and spiritual aspects.
• Public policies and funds should prioritise full
recognition of indigenous people’s territory.
Indigenous peoples own natural resources use,
management and conservation systems should
be recognised and promoted.
• All mitigation and adaptation evaluation,
recovery and development actions should
incorporate indigenous people’s knowledge
and technology, subject to their free, prior and
informed consent and also guarantee the full
participation of indigenous experts.
• (We) demand that the UN Permanent Forum
on Indigenous Issues recommend to the
United Nations High Commission that Special
Rapporteur on Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms of Indigenous People prepare a
report about the impacts of climate change on
indigenous peoples.
As indigenous peoples around the world face
extreme climatic events that threaten their liveli-
hoods and well-being, responses that stem from
indigenous knowledge experiences, wisdom and
world views are urgently needed. Such participa-
tory processes can only begin to have results if
they take account of linguistic and cultural differ-
ences, gender inequalities as well as geographic
remoteness and dispersion (Hughes 2005;
Global Landscape Forum 2019).
 oles of Government and Non-­
R
governmental Organisations
Climate Change and Food Security
FAO defines food security in four dimensions,
namely food availability, access to food, stability
of food supply and utilisation of food (FAO
16 Climate Change and Lessons from World Indigenous Minority Communities
2008). Although there will be some positive
impacts, climate change will have mostly nega-
tive effects on the food security dimensions. Food
availability will be reduced by a drop in food pro-
duction caused by extreme events, changes in
sustainability or availability of arable land and
water and the unavailability or lack of access to
crops, crop varieties and animal breeds that can
be productive in conditions that lead to changes
in pests and diseases. Access to food will be
worsened by climate change events that lead to
damages in infrastructure and losses of livelihood
asserts as well as loss of income and employment
opportunities. Stability of food supply could be
influenced by food price fluctuations and a higher
dependency on imports and food aid. Finally,
utilisation of food can be affected by food safety
associated with pests and animal diseases as well
as the increased presence of human diseases such
as malaria and diarrhoea.
The IPCC regional assessment of climate
change for Africa paints a grim picture on the
continent (FAO 2008). Food insecurity is wors-
ening and the number of people at risk from hun-
ger is increasing. Agricultural production is
severely compromised due to loss of land, shorter
growing seasons and more uncertainty about
what and when to plant. It is projected that by
2020, yields from rain-fed crops could fall by
90% and that there will be a general decline in
most subsistence crops such as sorghum in
Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Zambia; maize in
Ghana; millet in Sudan and groundnuts in
Gambia (FAO 2008). There will also be grassland
degradation, with widespread drying and deserti-
fication, particularly in the Sahel and Southern
Africa. Forests face deforestation, degradation
and increase in forest fires.
 lobal Minority Communities
G mist Easterly (2008) argues that Western aid
and Climate Change
Indigenous peoples point out that they suffer the
direct consequences of climate change on their
environments, especially in the tropics, in the
arctic and other fragile ecosystems (Griffiths
2009; Global Landscape Forum 2019).
Indigenous declarations, such as the 2002
Kimberley Declaration, have repeatedly warned
governments of the devastating impacts of cli-
mate change and called for major action to
address global warming. Food insecurity vulner-
ability patterns will be modified by climate
change. Small-scale rain-fed farming will be
modified by climate change. Small-scale rain-fed
farming systems, pastoralist systems, inland and
coastal fishing aquaculture communities and
forest-­based systems are particularly vulnerable
to climate change.
Vulnerability refers to the degree to which a
system or societies are susceptible to, and unable
to cope with, adverse effects of climate change,
including climate variability and extremes (FAO,
2008). Vulnerability is a function of the charac-
ter, magnitude and rate of climate change and
variation to which a system is exposed, its sensi-
tivity and its adaptive capacity (IPCC Fourth
Assessment Report (AR4) 2007). Since impacts
and adaptive capacity of systems may vary sig-
nificantly between countries, vulnerabilities can
be highly dynamic in space and time.
Consequently, there is a strong need to build
resilient agricultural systems that have a high
capacity to adapt to stress and changes and can
absorb disturbances. Vulnerability to climate
change varies not only between countries but
within countries and even households.
Governments must ensure that the most vulnera-
ble populations receive support and are empow-
ered to take action.
Government and Non-­
governmental Organizations
Interventions
In his paper, “Can the West save Africa?” econo-
efforts have traditionally taken a “transforma-
tional” approach which envisaged a “very rapid
and comprehensive social change”. This transfor-
mational approach pattern was reflected in the
1950s with the idea of a “big push” to develop-
ment (Khan 2010). The approach was again
manifest in the 1980s in the form of structural
Government and Non-governmental Organizations Interventions
adjustment, which aimed at comprehensive eco-
nomic reform leading to a jump out of poverty by
afflicted countries. In 1999, the transformational
approach resurfaced in the form of the Poverty
Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) approach
which focused on poverty reduction as a way of
bringing development alongside confined growth.
PRSPs were initiated in 1999 by the
International Monitory Fund (IMF) and the
World Bank for the eradication of poverty in
heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) and
other low-income countries (Khan 2010).
Supported by the UN, donor governments and
civil society alike, they signalled a much greater
role for those countries civil society organisa-
tions and community representatives in policy
making. The PRSPs thus represented a move
towards a more just form of progress which rec-
ognises that economic growth alone is not suffi-
cient in eradicating poverty.
Research, however, shows that PRSPs failed
to deliver and that millions of dollars directed via
governments and civil society were spent on
development programmes that are having no real
impact on the ground. There was very little coor-
dination between various stakeholders, while
governments have lacked the technical capacity
or shown little or no political will to engage civil
society and take formal policies that benefit the
poor and marginalised or take gender consider-
ations into account (Khan 2010). The process
has also suffered from corruption and misuse of
funds, with little accountability to the popula-
tions of recipient countries.
More than 20 years after their launch, PRSPs
have failed to deliver communities out of poverty.
They have also largely ignored the plight of
minorities and indigenous peoples, who are usu-
ally among the most marginalised, poor and
worst hit by climate change. Minorities and
indigenous communities often live in remote
areas and usually tend not to speak the official
national languages. More often, they lack infor-
mation about national government procedures
and do not have the resources to participate in
such processes. People who represent them also
tend to be on the periphery of government or
National NGO networks and have little capacity
17
to participate effectively in government-led PRSP
process (Khan 2010). Governments also do not
disaggregate data on the basis of ethnicity, race or
religion, with the result that the real situation of
minorities and indigenous communities is often
hidden within the overall poverty analysis of the
majority population.
Community minorities and indigenous women
face multiple levels of discrimination and mar-
ginalisation. For example, in east Africa and the
Horn of Africa, pastoralist women must submit to
decisions made by male leaders on issues affect-
ing them (Khan 2010). Participation in consulta-
tion processes is generally minimal with the
result that women’s experiences of poverty and
social exclusion are not fairly addressed. The
lack of comprehensive analysis of the status of
women, including minority and indigenous
women, makes it difficult to develop policies that
can specifically assist them.
A good example of the failure of PRSPs is the
district of Karamoja in Uganda, an area occupied
by minority pastoralist groups, a mirror scenario
of Zimbabwe’s south-western districts. The area
is vulnerable to deforestation and drought and
lacks basic services like roads and other services.
People who occupy Karamoja district are referred
to as the Karamojong. The Karamojong have
long been marginalised from the political, social
and economic mainstream of Uganda and their
situation has not improved despite a long-­
standing poverty reduction plan in the country
(Khan 2010). In fact, reports suggest that their
level of poverty has actually increased during the
past decade. Similarly, in Kenya, where the gov-
ernment also put in place a process based on the
PRSP principle since 2000, research shows that
there is not as yet any significant positive impact
on the situation of minorities and indigenous
peoples. Pastoralist communities like the
Endorois who have been removed from their
ancestral lands by successive governments, are
still impoverished, have elevated levels of illiter-
acy, high prevalence of HIV, poor health and high
maternal and child mortality rates. An exacerba-
tion of climate change stressors would surely be
unbearable to such communities if no robust
community-friendly measures are put in place.
18 Climate Change and Lessons from World Indigenous Minority Communities
In Uganda, the Batwa continue to suffer mul-
tiple forms of marginalisation in protected area
management. Apart from having been arbitrarily
evicted from their homeland, thereby suffering
the greatest injustices, they also now get the least
amount of attention from government in ongoing
efforts to make protected area management more
socially responsible (Griffiths 2009). Protected
area managers in South-West Uganda still per-
ceive indigenous peoples as external to conserva-
tion and, as a result, the translation of the Durban
Action Plan and Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) Programme of work on
Protected Areas (PWPA) on the ground is far
from satisfactory.
The obvious failure of PRSP across all sectors
means that there is a serious need for all parties to
rethink their strategies which will be able to
deliver realistic results to the poor, most particu-
larly minorities and indigenous communities in
the face of climate change and variability.
 ommunity Participation in Climate
C els. At the UN climate convention in 2008 and at
Change Adaptation
The risks associated with climate change call
for a broad spectrum of policy responses and
strategies at the local, national, regional and
global level. While a series of mitigation pro-
grammes seek to limit the impact of climate
change by reducing the emissions of GHG and
by enhancing “sink” opportunities, adaptation
aims to alleviate the adverse impacts through a
wide range of system-specific actions (Fussel
and Klein 2000). Although both mitigation and
adaptation measures must be pursued to tackle
the climate change problem and to create an
effective and inclusive international climate
change regime, more attention has been devoted
to mitigation in the past, both in scientific and
policy debate. However, particularly since the
IPCC Third Assessment Report (TAR), sensi-
tivity to the issues of adaptation has grown.
Adaptation has now emerged as an urgent pol-
icy priority, prompting action both within and
outside the climate change negotiations (Parry
et al. 2005).
People bearing the heaviest burdens of
climate-­related impacts like desertification, ero-
sion rising sea levels are usually the poor and the
marginalised (IDRC 2012). While the causes of
climate change are well understood, relatively
little research has been done on how to respond to
it. There is, therefore, a need to know what strate-
gies will best protect vulnerable people, their
communities and their livelihoods from these
environmental crises.
While there is growing recognition among
governments that indigenous peoples and local
communities need to be consulted and rights
addressed, existing intergovernmental proposals
on decisions on reduction and emissions from
deforestation and degradation in developing
countries) (REDD), for example, contain no clear
commitments to address right and equity issues
(Griffiths 2009). Government negotiators must
ensure that indigenous peoples and civil society
have a seat at the negotiating table in the interna-
tional climate change negotiations as well as at
REDD negotiation at the national and local lev-
COP 17  in Durban, South Africa, indigenous
peoples and civil society organisations continued
to emphasise that recognising the rights of indig-
enous peoples and forest-dependent communities
must be an essential precondition in the design
and implementation of national and international
efforts to protect and curb emissions. Indigenous
people organisations and other minority groups
have consistently complained that participation
in the UNFCCC is limited and must be improved
to ensure they are able to effectively influence
negotiations.
 lobal Minority Communities,
G
Vulnerability and Management
Practices
Although there is a large body of knowledge
within local communities on coping with cli-
matic vulnerability and extreme weather events,
the rate and magnitude of climate change in
recent years require an upgrading of local knowl-
edge with more scientific observations and
National Awareness and Capacity
e­stablishing collaboration among communities
and countries to transfer knowledge from areas
already experiencing these changes (FAO 2008).
Such indigenous knowledge and local coping
strategies should then serve as a baseline and
starting point of adaptation planning.
Climate change coping strategies in minority
communities and indigenous peoples should be
gender-sensitive. They should take into account
the different roles, responsibilities, rights and
resources of men and women, boys and girls so
that they become not only willing but responsible
community development partners.
Agricultural research should be community
and country relevant. It should focus on varieties
adapted to drought, heat, salinity and new pests
and diseases, with support of the Centres of the
Consultative Groups on International Agricultural
Research (CGIAR) (FAO 2008). Such research
must also take into account that methodologies
and materials must be developed to meet rapidly
changing climatic changes and environmental
conditions.
Any adaptation planning must recognise the
levels of uncertainty in climate change scenarios
and the plans themselves must be adaptable.
Adaptation is urgent and requires substantial
financial resources and technical knowledge for
anticipatory and planned intervention. Financial
and technical assistance will be required for the
additional costs of designing and implementing
interventions. Methodologies to assess adapta-
tion need to analyse local impacts in detail to
understand and plan relevant interventions. This
is because climate change impacts are localised
and location-specific.
National Awareness and Capacity
The general attitude of decision-makers in many
countries towards climate change in agriculture
appears to be a lack of concern, which is justified
by the uncertainties that affect many projected
impacts at the local level (FAO 2008). That is
why it is necessary to build capacity to raise
awareness of the future risks and immediate ben-
efits that can be derived from developing national
19
strategies for adaptation and mitigation, includ-
ing prevention of new GHG-producing
activities.
Policy-makers and agricultural research and
extension services need to be sensitised to the
issues related to the climate change and food
security nexus. The capacity to identify, collect
and share data, use information and build knowl-
edge relevant for climate change adaptation, mit-
igation and food security is critical because of
rapidly changing climatic, environmental and
socio-economic conditions (FAO 2008). To
ensure that options are made available to food
producers and that coping strategies are pre-
served and enhanced at local level, the communi-
cation among policy-makers, researchers and
extension experts and farming communities need
to be improved. At the same time, it is important
to understand the dynamics of local decision-­
making, for example, who decides which issues,
receive adaptation assistance in a given commu-
nity, whether it is the community or outsiders,
and who the beneficiaries are.
For lasting adaptation solutions in a changing
climate, an international climate change regime
must place pro-poor and gender-equitable
approaches at its core and provide sufficient
funding for and prioritise the needs of the most
vulnerable (Rawe 2011). This is because the
world’s poorest people have contributed least to
climate change, yet they are the most impacted.
Paragraph 12 of the Cancun Agreements (Mexico)
affirms that adaptation “should follow a country-­
driven, gender-sensitive, participatory, and fully
transparent approach, taking in to consideration
vulnerable groups, communities and ecosys-
tems”, and should be based on “….appropriate,
traditional, and indigenous knowledge”. Research
evidence from poverty reduction programmes
shows that when women control household
income, it is often more likely to be spent on
human development needs (Rawe 2011). Climate
change adaptation should thus empower women
and men to acknowledge and address the inequi-
table distributions of rights, resources and power,
including gender inequalities that constrain their
communities’ ability to adapt. Governments need
to ensure that women’s experiences of exclusion
20 Climate Change and Lessons from World Indigenous Minority Communities
and poverty form significant parts of new poli-
cies. Brazil’s example allows the identification of
two main conditions for poverty reduction—the
need for economic growth, and the even more
essential need for policies to be implemented that
support the uplift of the poorest and most margin-
alised groups, many of whom are minority and or
indigenous peoples, and of women.
Successful plans to fight poverty require coun-
try or community ownership and broad-based
support from the public in order to succeed. All
development decisions policies and initiatives,
while seeking to empower local participants, are
also required to guard against simply reinforcing
existing power imbalances. Moreover, participa-
tion must be active, free and meaningful, not
merely formal or ceremonial contacts with bene-
ficiaries (Khan 2010). Rights-based approaches
employ process-based development methodolo-
gies and techniques, rather than externally con-
ceived “quick fixes” and imported technical
models.
Indigenous knowledge is a safety cushion
against impacts of climate change and variability.
Conventional solutions are not always available
when disaster strikes. Indigenous rural communi-
ties resort to local traditional solutions to counter-
act local environmental problems. Such solutions,
though with some limitations, have ensured these
communities’ sustainability. Local indigenous
community knowledge, however, faces both local
and global challenges. The local challenge is that
the elderly members of communities who have
most of this knowledge are duly succumbing to
old age and take most of their knowledge to the
grave. The global challenge is that conventional
science does not quite appreciate the robustness of
local indigenous communal knowledge. Instead, it
threatens to wipe this local heritage out through
elimination by substitution. The biggest problem
is that local indigenous communal knowledge
which, as a package, protects communities against
climate change and the subsequent environmental
change is barely documented. This makes it vul-
nerable to scientific challenge. The threat of cli-
mate change is, however, accepted as a universal
challenge to sustainable development.
Governments and non-governmental organisa-
tions have no immediate solution to it. It is also
universally acknowledged that minority rural
communities are some of the most vulnerable. A
viable solution to climate change challenges
among rural communities is one which takes into
account their local initiatives as bases for any
intervention and integrates them with whatever
useful foreign perspective.
 Impact of Climate Change
in Zimbabwe
 limate Change and Rural
C In recent decades, Zimbabwe has experienced
Communities in Zimbabwe
Like other African countries, Zimbabwe faces the
predicament of increased temperature of between
1.5 and 3.5 °C by 2050, variable rainfall patterns
and an increase in the frequency of climate
extremes (Zhakata 2008; Oxfam International
2011). Although climate change may deliver both
risks and opportunities to rural farmer communi-
ties, risks are likely to dominate because of com-
munities dependence on climate and the natural
environment.
More than 70% of Zimbabwe’s 13 million
people live and depend on rain-fed crop and ani-
mal farming in rural areas. This is despite the
realities of a changing and variable climate which
is provoking accelerated environmental change
(GoZ-UNDP/GEF 2011). With an increasing
rural population, and despite achievements of the
fast-track land reform programme of the decade
2000–2009, pressure on farming land is increas-
ing (Hargreaves et  al. 2004; Gwimbi 2009;
Chagutah 2010). More marginal land is being
cultivated primarily for staple maize and other
subsistence crops. The main reason for farmer
insecurity and instability on their land is the
uncertainty which has characterised their climate
in recent years (GoZ-UNDP/GEF 2011). Climate
extremes like droughts, floods and cyclones have
increased since the 1980s and these have
impacted farmer activities (Zhakata 2008).
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Matsa, Climate Change and Agriculture in Zimbabwe, Sustainable Development Goals Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51346-7_3
increases in proportion of low rainfall years and
increases in the frequency and intensity of mid-­
season dry spells. Although Zimbabwe receives
national average rainfall of between 500 and
750 mm, most of this rainfall is received in the
northern regions (750–1250 mm) and the eastern
highlands (1250–2000  mm) (GoZ-UNDP/GEF
2011). The south and south-­western parts of the
country have a rather dry climate with unreliable
rainfall. These areas receive little amounts rang-
ing from 250 to 500 mm per annum.
Rainfall amount and its timing are both
becoming unpredictable. Rainfall variability has
always been part of the Zimbabwean climate
and droughts have occurred periodically.
However, from 1980, the country has experi-
enced extremes of either increasingly reduced
rainfall or exceedingly heavy rainfall in the
same season. In addition to being the warmest in
instrument record, the period 2000–2009 has
also been one of the driest for Zimbabwe (GoZ-
UNDP/GEF 2011). Furthermore, from 2000 to
2010, the length and frequency of dry spells
during the rainfall season have been increasing,
while the frequency of rain days has been reduc-
ing. It has been observed, however, that compet-
ing responses such as increasing number of dry
days, coupled with increases in rainfall inten-
sity, working at different time scales, tend to
make climate change signals in time-averaging
total rainfall across the country giving the false
21
22
impression that the change is not very
significant.
Temperatures in south-western Zimbabwe are
severely hot, going between 32 and 45 °C in sum-
mer. Daily minimum temperatures have risen by
2.6 °C over the last century, while daily tempera-
tures have risen by 2 °C during the same period
(Zhakata 2008; Brazier 2017). Zimbabwe is gen-
erally becoming hotter, with more hot days than
cold days annually. Annual mean surface tem-
perature has increased by 0.4  °C from 1900 to
2000. This means the country has warmed by
0.04 °C per decade during the same period (GoZ-­
UNDP/GEF 2011). The frequency of cold nights
and cold days has decreased by about 1.2% and
1.1% per decade, respectively, from 1971 to
1995. Warm day frequency has increased by
about 1.9% per decade during the same period.
The period from 1980 to date has been the warm-
est in instrument record (GoZ-UNDP/GEF 2007;
Brazier 2017). Year 2019 summer season has,
however, recorded some of the warmest years on
record and it looks like climate change for
Zimbabwe is unfolding at a very high rate in
terms of temperature increases. Places like
Beitbridge, Binga, Plumtree and Matopos, all in
South-west Zimbabwe have seen highest daily
temperatures which have stood for decades being
crushed in the months of October to November in
2019.
Climate change is expanding drier environ-
ments for agriculture in all of Zimbabwe’s natu-
ral farming regions 1–5. More land areas are
becoming drier and unfavourable even for grow-
ing staple food crops. These regions were demar-
cated basing primarily on rainfall amounts and
temperature. Rainfall has generally been decreas-
ing from north to south, and this has caused shifts
in the natural farming regions. Parts of Chinhoyi
district, which used to be in Natural Region 2, are
now in Region 3, while Kwekwe, which was in
Region 3, has become drier and now forms part
of Region 4 (Brazier 2017).
A 10-year cycle of drought has since been
noticed in Zimbabwe (Oxfam International 2011;
Brazier 2017). The very regular and predictable
rainfall regimes of the 1970s which farmers
remember vividly have since disappeared. The
Impact of Climate Change in Zimbabwe
drying trend has become more characteristic in
recent years with droughts occurring in 1982,
1987, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2013; 2015, 2016–2029
(Frost 2001; Brazier 2017; UN Climate Change
Conference 2019). Droughts became very severe
in the 2000s and rural farmer communities were
forced to adopt and intensify short-term indige-
nous coping strategies like collection of wild
fruits to augment food supply in order to main-
tain food security.
In Chiredzi district, small-scale farmers noted
that winters have become mild, with increased
heat during the day but very cold at night.
Summer temperatures have become very hot,
with limited humidity. There is general consen-
sus among farmers that summers are becoming
drier in Zimbabwe (Chagutah 2010; Tadross
et  al. 2009; Chigwada 2009; Brazier 2017).
Rainfall distribution within seasons also contin-
ues to change.
 limate Change and South-Western
C
Communities
In south-western Zimbabwe, which is essentially
a low rainfall area, although the Alvord mixed
livestock cropping system has been advocated,
cattle are a more important source of direct
income and the prime objective of small-scale
minority communities is food self-sufficiency for
the household (CIRAD 1993). Communal minor-
ity farmers constitute a very diverse group,
socially and economically differentiated by gen-
der, age, wealth, class and ethnicity (Woolmer
et al. 2002). They rely on crops and livestock to
different extents depending on their experience
and expertise. Minority south-­western Zimbabwe
farmers are, therefore, essentially sedentary
pastoralists.
Types of cattle found in this region are mainly
the Nguni and the Tuli which thrive in a wide
range of mainly drier environments (Hargreaves
et  al. 2004). These indigenous breeds have a
harder and stronger hide, are resistant to ticks and
are efficient converters of poor quality feed to
draft power, milk and meat (Agrisystems 2000).
The economic value of cattle in south-western
Climate Change and South-Western Communities
Zimbabwe varies from district to district. On
average, however, draft power represents 57% of
the economic value, milk 22%, transport 16%,
and manure, sale and slaughter account for 5%
(Hargreaves et  al. 2004). Since cattle are more
highly valued for their multiple functions than for
their sale value, cattle off-take rates for sale are
low. The vast majority of owners use cattle as a
store of wealth and are more interested in increas-
ing cattle numbers; hence, breeding is considered
an important activity (Zhou 1997).
Cattle are also kept for various social reasons
like paying the bride price (lobola). They are
slaughtered at funerals, memorial services and
other rituals like the installation of ancestral spir-
its and ritual slaughter. Livestock ownership is
also a status symbol in the community.
Sheep and goats are other common types of
livestock found in south-western Zimbabwe
(Perry 2003; Brazier 2017). They survive
droughts better and their numbers recover more
rapidly than cattle after drought. Ndebele (or
Matabele) goats are the main indigenous breed
among the minority farmer communities
(Agrisystems 2000). They are exceptionally
hardy and highly fertile with a high proportion of
multiple births. Sheep and goat mortality, espe-
cially in young animals, is high mainly due to
poor management (Agrisystems 2000). Disease
and under-nourishment make up to two-thirds of
confirmed deaths, and losses represent 25–75%
of total annual production of the flock (CIRAD
1993).
These small ruminants (sheep and goats) are
important in trading, household self-sustenance,
social functions and may be sold or slaughtered
in exchange for cash or goods (Hargreaves et al.
2004). Goats, after poultry, contribute signifi-
cantly to household food security. In south-­
western Zimbabwe, goat populations have been
increasing, and goat ownership by women has
also been on the rise (Hargreaves et al. 2004).
Severe droughts occur regularly in Zimbabwe,
with rainfall well below average, for example,
1981/1983; 1983/1984; 1986/1987; 1991/1992
(the worst drought on record) and 2001/2002;
2007/2008; 2012/2013; 2015/2016; 2017/2018;
2018/2019; 2019/2020. Besides these country-­
23
wide droughts (which coincidentally hit south-­
western districts heaviest), minority farmers in
the south and western parts of the country have
also suffered region-specific droughts. These
include in 1988/1989; 1990/1991; 1994/1995;
1997/1998 and 2002/2003 (Hargreaves et  al.
2004). These periodic droughts have had a sig-
nificant impact on livestock and, therefore, on the
livelihoods of communal communities.
In south-western Zimbabwe, farmers have
noticed changes in the quantity, quality and effi-
cacy of rainfall (Masendeke 2008). In terms of
quantity, they have noticed differences in distri-
bution as well as more erratic rainfall events. The
dry spells are increasing in duration and fre-
quency. There is an increased incidence of
drought, and rainfall is less effective now than
before. Farmers have also observed that rainfall
is now heavy and infrequent, causing more runoff
and soil erosion. The end of the rainy season
which used to be in March/April is now as early
as February. The first late maturity maize breed
SR52 (and other such current late maturity variet-
ies), which used to be grown in the south-western
districts of Tsholotsho and Gwanda when it was
first released in the 1960s, is no longer viable in
these regions (Masendeke 2008).
Farmers in south-western Zimbabwe have
also noticed environmental changes like drying
up of wetlands, ponds, pans and river beds
(Masendeke 2008). Some grass, insect and plant
species that are associated with the wetlands are
also disappearing. Farmers can also no longer
rely on their traditional signs, such as the flower-
ing of certain tree species or a halo around the
sun or moon signifying rain, to predict the
weather.
Climate projections for Zimbabwe are for
warmer future climate. It is estimated that there
will be warming of 0.5–2  °C by 2030 and
1–3.5  °C by 2090 compared to the 1961–1990
average (GoZ-UNDP/GEF 2011; Brazier 2017).
These scenarios are based on the assumption that
the current trends of increase in greenhouse emis-
sions remain constant. Rainfall predictions for
the country are less certain. Rainfall models point
towards an increased variability in rainfall inten-
sity and dry spells. They also suggest a shift in
24 Impact of Climate Change in Zimbabwe

the onset and cessation dates. Extreme events are Most rural landscapes inherited from the colo-
predicted to increase with some models forecast- nial system are crowded. This has resulted in
ing a 10–20% decline in rainfall by 2050 (GoZ-­ increased land fragmentation, deforestation,
UNDP/GEF 2011; Brazier 2017). reduced productivity, overstocking and overgraz-
ing, which the fast-track land reform programme
failed to adequately address. The sum effect of
Climate Change and Livelihoods these factors is worsened by climate extremes
Constraints for Rural Communities resulting in highly vulnerable communities
(Chenge et al. 1998).
Erickson et  al. (2008) and Funder et  al. (2017) A study by Gwimbi in Gokwe revealed that
identified inequitable land redistribution, conflict vulnerability to climate change among cotton
and insecurity, poor infrastructure, gender farmers is mainly due to drought. Droughts expe-
inequality, poor health and excessive dependence rienced in 1981–1992 and 1991–1992 did not
on climate-sensitive resources as factors contrib- only impact cotton production but also the gen-
uting to household vulnerability. Vulnerability eral social and economic facets of communities
proved to vary from district to district and from (Gwimbi 2009). Respondents (23%) reported
one household to the next. Communities in mar- children dropping out of school because parents
ginal areas were observed to be more vulnerable could not afford paying school fees as a result of
and in most cases had problems with water cotton crop failure. Fifteen percent reported
access. Ecologically marginal areas of Zimbabwe increased migration to urban areas by the eco-
are historically inhabited by minority farmers nomically active age groups in search of greener
and gathering communities like the Venda, Suthu, pastures, while 21% reported increased antisocial
Shangani, Kalanga, San, Nambya and Tonga. behaviour at Gokwe town centre.
These communities endure climate-related
shocks like recurrent droughts, floods and
cyclones. Zimbabwe Government
Households are also deprived of labour during Approaches to Climate Change
the summer productive period due to diseases.
This exacerbates household vulnerability The government of Zimbabwe acknowledges that
(Chagutah 2010; Funder et  al. 2017; Brazier climate change is a serious issue (GoZ 1998,
2017). A study by Erickson et al. (2008) identi- 2016). Zimbabwe is a signatory to UNFCC which
fies elderly populations (especially women), it signed and ratified in 1992. The country also
orphans and children as particularly vulnerable. appended its signature to the Kyoto Protocol on
Another study by JIMAT Development Climate Change in June 2009. These efforts show
Consultants (2008) in rural Chiredzi district, commitment and acknowledge the importance of
south-eastern Zimbabwe identified poor house- climate change issues. Zimbabwe’s National
holds, female-headed and those settled in water-­ Climate Policy provides a framework for address-
stressed environments as among the most ing climate-related challenges that the country
vulnerable. Cross-border migration and increased faces now and in the future due to climate change.
rural to urban migration compound vulnerability It forms the basis for developing Action Plans for
as the economically active group leaves agricul- national efforts on adaptation and mitigation,
tural production to the elderly and the young. providing a platform to unpack and implement
These age groups are usually too weak to be Zimbabwe’s Nationally Determined
meaningfully productive. High outward migra- Contributions (NDCs) that will contribute to the
tion from marginal rural communities is usually global goal of limiting temperature rise to below
precipitated by high population densities and 1.5 °C.
fast-depleting local resources resulting from cli- The National Climate Policy, however, seems
mate change. to disregard the fact that minority farmer com-
Climate Change Awareness Initiatives in Zimbabwe
munities have been on the knife-edge of climatic
vicissitudes to the extent that they may need pref-
erential treatment in terms of climate policy for-
mulation and implementation. The country and
other communities worldwide can surely learn
something from peripheral communities like
those in southwest Zimbabwe, which have been
experiencing harsh climatic and environmental
conditions for decades but have prevailed.
Zimbabwe’s National Climate Policy fits well
into other initiatives such as the African Union’s
Agenda 2063, SADCs Industrialization Strategy,
Paris Agreement in line with the Nationally
Determined Contributions, and the Post-2015
Global Development Agenda where climate
change remains a key issue for sustainable devel-
opment and to reduce temperature rise.
Sustainable Development Goal 13 calls specifi-
cally for the need to take urgent action to combat
climate change and its impacts. In taking action
to address climate change, the Paris Agreement
(2015) urges the need to “respect, promote and
consider obligations on human rights, the right to
health, the rights of indigenous peoples, local
communities, migrants, children, persons with
disabilities and people in vulnerable situations
and the right to development, as well as gender
equality, empowerment of women and intergen-
erational equity”.
It is important for government and other stake-
holders to realise that climate change impacts a
whole spectrum of rural communities’ liveli-
hoods (IPS 2008). Environmental effects of cli-
mate change include increased erosion, depletion
of pastures and water sources. These effects neg-
atively impact household productivity for both
crops and livestock. Communities will have lim-
ited income and this may have myriad of social
consequences which may include children drop-
ping out of school, early marriages, outward
migration and starvation.
Climate change issues should be main-
streamed in national policy, programmes and
projects and should have an independent vote in
the national budget. Since the understanding of
climate change among policy-makers is still very
limited (IPS 2008; Brazier 2017), it becomes dif-
ficult, if not impossible, for minority farmer com-
25
munities in marginal areas like Beitbridge,
Bulilima and Binga to be competitively repre-
sented in parliament on climate change issues.
This is especially so given that parliamentarians
from such areas are usually only barely educated
and unexpressive.
 limate Change Awareness
C
Initiatives in Zimbabwe
Climate change public awareness initiatives at
community level in Zimbabwe are currently few
(Chagutah 2010). These include a joint initiative
by UNESCO and the British Council “Our
Climate, Our Future” which aims at building
capacity among media practitioners through
training, to report vigorously on climate change
matters. It also aims to create awareness among
communities so that they accept the realities of a
changing climate. There are also programmes
aimed at educating school children on the climate
change and lobbying policy makers.
Parliamentarians have been engaged in dialogue
and workshops on climate change issues since
2008. With the assistance of NGOs and govern-
ment institutions, some communities in districts
like Chiredzi, Mwenezi, Mberengwa and
Zvishavane are vigorously engaged in climate
smart agriculture and other resilience initiatives
to build resilience to climate change–induced
hazards, shocks and stressors.
Most of the initiatives, however, are at the
behest of district, provincial and national leader-
ship and it is mainly the leaders who authorita-
tively narrate their experiences and knowledge,
which is normally from books and other related
literature (Chagutah 2010). Such an approach
intimidates and sidelines people at the grassroots,
demeaning their indigenous knowledge and yet
they are the most vulnerable to climate change
hazards. It should also be noted that most of these
workshops and initiatives are held in the northern
provinces which are comparatively less
­vulnerable than the hotter and drier south-west-
ern districts. This means that vulnerability is cur-
rently blanketed at national level, yet each
community, and especially minority communi-
26
ties like the Kalanga in Bulilima, the Tonga in
Binga and the Venda, Shangani and Suthu in
Beitbridge have their own and dire forms of vul-
nerability by virtue of both geographic marginal-
ity of their districts and also the marginality of
their minority cultures.
Government policies either promote or hinder
adaptation to climate change (Chagutah 2010;
Funder et al. 2017). In the case of Zimbabwe, it is
important that government devise complemen-
tary policies that promote local community ini-
tiatives as important baseline upon which to
come up with national adaptation initiatives. A
national policy which takes lessons from various
experiences by local communities gives rural
farmers a variety of initiatives from which to
choose the best for their areas. Policies wholly
prescribed from outside communities seldom
give desirable results (McDevitt 2009; Funder
et al. 2017). Climate change adaptation strategies
which leave out communities from formative
through to implementation stages are likely to
limit local community adaptation endeavours.
Climate change adaptation responses require
gender sensitivity in consultation and decision-­
making (Chagutah 2010; Funder et al. 2017). In
communal areas, men and women play crucial
roles in environmental protection and use. In the
case of Zimbabwe, women outnumber men in
rural areas and strategies to cope with climate
change should incorporate the experiences of the
whole social strata, including men, women, boys
and girls. Their individual and collective experi-
ences with both climate change and environmen-
tal change are critical for the crafting of a
sustainable policy document. Education institu-
tions from early childhood to university should
embrace gender sensitivity so that the tenets of
environmental protection and climate change are
captured and nurtured to adulthood (Chagutah
2010).
Maunde (2003) and Kupika et  al. (2019)
observes that most educational institutions in
Zimbabwe are biased against women, yet it is
these women who usually become household
heads in rural areas and suffer the effects of cli-
mate change. This means that the influence of
women on concepts, methodologies, planning,
Impact of Climate Change in Zimbabwe
decision-making and implementation is limited.
This is the reason why educational institutions
should offer programmes that empower and
improve gender sensitivity in matters to do with
climate change and adaptation (Banda and
Mehlwana 2005; Kupika et  al. 2019). Through
adequate training, both men and women will be
equipped with knowledge which will position
them adequately to counter the effects of climate
change. Women, being the main actors in the
Zimbabwean rural landscape, will also be moved
from the periphery to the core of climate change
adaptation and decision-making.
In Zimbabwe, currently negotiations at the
COPs are a preserve of the government delega-
tion which is usually male-dominated. This
means that the opportunity for gender organisa-
tions to influence the actual negotiating process
stops at the level of national consultations
(Chagutah 2010; Funder et al. 2017). If women’s
organisations are not actively involved, gender
and women’s aspects will not be addressed.
Government and NGOs
Involvement in South-Western
Zimbabwe
In south-western Zimbabwe, cattle are a more
important source of direct income. The govern-
ment has invested considerable resources in a
network of dip tanks managed by the Division of
Livestock and Veterinary Services (Hargreaves
et al. 2004). This infrastructure has been pivoted
in controlling ticks and tick-borne disease, in dis-
ease surveillance, and for collecting livestock
census data. South-western Zimbabwe com-
monly experience localised droughts (which are
usually not very severe in the Northern prov-
inces). The 1991/1992 drought, for example,
killed up to 50% of cattle in Matabeleland South
and Matabeleland North, the two provinces
which fall wholly in the region (Hargreaves et al.
2004). Some of the areas are yet to recover to
their original livestock numbers. The National
Early Warning Unit is well-established, but it is
based on cropping and does not include livestock
information, yet livestock is the mainstay of
Government and NGOs Involvement in South-Western Zimbabwe
south-western districts. Due to the economic
decline in the 2009–2010 decade, funding con-
straints have resulted in high staff turnover, loss
of expertise and insufficient operating budgets
(Chagutah 2010; Brazier 2017). This severely
hampered the ability of national agencies to pro-
vide support and extension services. The pro-
curement of acaricides and vaccines for dipping
services and disease control was hindered by for-
eign currency shortages (Hargreaves et al. 2004).
Poor, remote and marginal communities like
those in south-western Zimbabwe are always the
worst hit by such inadequacies by not having a
voice loud enough to shake Harare to act
expeditiously.
Research organizations, among them non-­
governmental organisations and UN agencies,
are involved in climate change activities in
Zimbabwe (Chagutah 2010). However, following
the disputed land reform programme of the
2000–2009 decade, relations between govern-
ment and these international organisations have
soured, resulting in most of them being forced
out of the country. The government accused
NGOs of meddling in politics and of sponsoring
the regime-change agenda. The Global Political
Agreement (GPA) signed by the three parliamen-
tary parties in September 2008, however, estab-
lished an inclusive government and subsequently
re-established a working relationship between
the government and NGOs.
Only a handful of the registered NGOs deal
with agriculture and still fewer are involved in
livestock (Hargreaves et al. 2004). One of these
NGOs, HELP-Germany have assisted with the
distribution of seeds packs during the 2002/2003
drought in both Matabeleland North and south of
south-western Zimbabwe. They also provided
assistance in tick control and dip-tank rehabilita-
tion in Matabeleland North province. Together
with another NGO, German Agro-Action, HELP-­
Germany further embarked on a borehole reha-
bilitation program which saw 1400 boreholes in
south-western Zimbabwe and other districts of
the country being repaired.
Heifer International Zimbabwe (HIZ), also
operational in south-western districts, has been
involved in drought mitigation and preparedness
27
activities; promoting appropriate herd numbers,
emphasizing fewer but more productive animals
within a household’s capacity. They encourage
farmers to cut hay, collect crop residue and grow
fodder grasses. HIZ has promoted the planting of
multi-purpose trees and grass. It has also spear-
headed the identification and protection of
wetlands.
The Lutheran Development Service (LDS), an
affiliate of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF),
currently operates in drought-prone southern dis-
tricts of Chivi, Mwenezi, Zvishavane,
Mberengwa, Beitbridge and Gwanda where the
church is most active (Hargreaves et al. 2004). Its
activities have revolved around the supply of bet-
ter quality bulls from the Commercial Sector.
They have also invested in the provision of water
for livestock.
The government of Zimbabwe is a member of
the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD) and, with donors, co-­
finances the Dry Areas Programme (DAP) which
includes south-western Zimbabwe (Hargreaves
et al. 2004). This evolved as a response to declin-
ing social and environmental conditions in the
southern (and eastern) provinces of the country
after the 1991/1992 drought. The programme
involves the Smallholder Dry Areas Resource
Management Project (SDARMP) which com-
prises livestock redistribution programmes, con-
trolled and rotational grazing schemes,
participatory adaptive trials and adaptive research
techniques. It also includes improved fodder pro-
duction using Bana grass, urea treatment of
maize stover; the South-Eastern Dry Areas
Project (SEDAP) and the Smallholder Irrigation
Support Programme (SHISP).
Although these interventions by government,
NGOs and donor organisations may seem plau-
sible and helping to ease the impacts of climate
change and climate variability, they are silent
about indigenous local knowledge of the minor-
ity farmer communities in south-western
Zimbabwe. The local voice is not heard and,
therefore, traditional local culture and knowledge
of weather patterns and environmental dynamics
and responses are lost in the process of learning
new responses, interventions and impositions. It
28
is argued that these top to bottom approaches to
climate change, usually leave the already poor
community even poorer and more vulnerable.
This is so because the traditional chain of indig-
enous knowledge handover from one generation
to another may be disturbed, meaning that the
next generation may fail to adapt efficiently to
the vagaries of climate change as the preceding
one. This is worsened by the fact that the so-­
called new approaches are expensive to run and
maintain.
 limate Change and the Role
C Sorghum and pearl millet have been the staple
of International Non-profit
Organisations in Zimbabwe
The International Crops Research Institute for
the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is the only
non-profit organization strategically located in
the dry region of south-western Zimbabwe and
has a mandate to help communities cope with the
region’s harsh climatic conditions. It is a non-
profit, non-political international organisation for
science-based agricultural development (www.
icrisat.org). It forms part of the 16 research and
training centres sponsored by Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the
United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and the World Bank. ICRISAT is funded
through the Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The Semi-Arid
Tropics (SAT) cover parts of 48 developing coun-
tries, including most of India, parts of South-east
Asia, across sub-Saharan Africa, much of south-
ern and eastern Africa and parts of Latin America.
In Zimbabwe, ICRISAT researches mainly in
drought-tolerant crops like finger millet, sor-
ghum, pearl millet and groundnuts. These crops
are staples for communities in the hot and dry
districts of the south-western parts of the country.
ICRISAT endeavours, through research, to
increase production of these crops in this dry
environment. The organisation is mandated to
hold workshops and training activities to dissem-
inate their findings. They also publish books and
Impact of Climate Change in Zimbabwe
pamphlets and provide library facilities to farm-
ers (www.icrisat.org).
In 1980, the Heads of State of the Southern
Africa Development Coordination Conference
SADCC (now SADC) resolved at their meeting
in Lusaka, Zambia, help small-scale farmers in
these member countries cope with problems of
drought (SADC/ICRISAT 2009). Millet and sor-
ghum were identified as strategic crops requiring
research. With its successful experience in Asia
and Latin America, ICRISAT was asked to imple-
ment a similar regional programme in southern
Africa.
foods in southern Africa and for south-western
Zimbabwe minority farmer communities for mil-
lennia (SADC/ICRISAT 2009; Brazier 2017).
These crops are drought tolerant and hardy. They
are, therefore, more suitable for the semi-arid
environments of the south-western districts
where they are grown by small-scale farmers
operating at the margins of subsistence. These
farmers have to contend with a host of difficulties
that hamper adoption of new agricultural tech-
nology, erratic rainfall, nutrient-poor soils, birds,
insect pests, weeds, non-availability of seed of
improved varieties and cash and labour short-
ages. The majority produces little or no surplus
grain and harvests are commonly too small even
to meet household requirements (SADC/
ICRISAT 2009).
In September 1983, the SADC/ICRISAT sor-
ghum and millet improvement programme
(SMIP) was officially launched with USAID
funding. The Programme is headquartered at
Matopos Research Station, 35  km south-east of
Bulawayo in south-western Zimbabwe, on land
provided by Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Lands and
Agriculture. The objectives of the SMIP pro-
gramme were to strengthen national research
capacities through training and the productivity
of sorghum and pearl millet cropping systems
and, finally, to promote technology exchange and
stimulate adoption (SADC/ICRISAT 2009). Of
concern in this study is the role of the minority
farmer communities and the fate of their indige-
nous knowledge systems, acquired, tried and
tested over years and has sustained them to this
Post-independent Zimbabwe’s Development Context and the South-Western Districts 29

day. This quest is against a backdrop of the fact national vision, may ease the coping strategies of
that these communities are peripheral even to even minority farmer communities like those in
national budget allocations and are not capaci- south-western Zimbabwe.
tated to embrace costs which come with new Imported policies and approaches to develop-
technologies. ment have failed Zimbabwe in the past. The
decade of 1990, for example, witnessed a dip in
the country’s economic fortunes partly because
Post-independent Zimbabwe’s of recurring droughts and floods but mainly
Development Context because of the non-realisation of the objectives of
and the South-Western Districts the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme
(ESAP). During the period 1991 and 1995, real
At Independence in 1980, the new government GDP growth averaged 1.5% per year (GOZ/UN
took over an economy characterised by a rela- 2004). The economic growth rate was insuffi-
tively modern industrial sector and a poor subsis- cient for poverty reduction and employment cre-
tence rural sector. Eighty percent of the workforce ation, considering the country’s annual average
was employed in agriculture (GoZ/UNDP 2004). inter-censual population growth rate of 2.2%
The new government pursued the “Growth with between 1992 and 1997 (GOZ/UN 2004).
Equity” strategy in 1981 to address some of these Households living below the poverty datum line
inequalities as well as the Zimbabwe Transitional increased to 35% in 1995 compared to 26% in
National Development Plan (1982–1985), and 1990.
the Zimbabwe first 5-year National Development Between 1996 and 2009, the government
Plan (1986–1990). Government prioritised pov- made attempts to go back to the home-grown
erty reduction with a lot of funds going towards policies of the 1980s but without success. The
improving social sectors like education and Zimbabwe Programme for Economic and Social
health, improving rural infrastructure and the first Transformation (ZIMPREST) which replaced
phase of the land reform programme (GoZ/ ESAP in April 1998, the Millennium Economic
UNDP 2004). Recovery Programme (MERP) which was
South-western Zimbabwean farmer commu- launched in August 2001, the National Economic
nities did not benefit much from these policies Revival Programme (NERP) launched in
since the region experienced a civil war pitting February 2003 and all subsequent programmes
government forces against some dissident ele- up to 2008, failed to succeed. The failure was
ments sympathetic to the region. The rest of the because of lack of resources to implement them.
country, however, experienced marked socio-­ This was compounded by withdrawal of the
economic development. Primary healthcare was international donor community in response to the
heavily subsidised and most children were violation of the rule of law by the government.
immunised. There was almost universal primary This stemmed from the random and spontaneous
school enrolment since education was made free seizure of formerly white-owned commercial
for all at primary school level. Primary school farms by landless communal farmers, most of
enrolment had reached 86% by 1995 (GoZ/ whom were ZANU (PF) sympathisers and
UNDP 2004). The net results of these nationalist supporters.
policies were very strong social indicators for Government’s most recent development blue-
Zimbabwe. The climate change debate in print, The Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable
Zimbabwe could benefit from this experience of Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset,
the unhindered success of such home-made and 2013–2018), though national in nature, has failed
people-centred policies like those introduced at to meaningfully embrace the climate change
independence. This study calls for the need to problem. The document sought to achieve sus-
evoke the developmental state theory which, if tainable development and social equity through
implemented impartially and with a concerted the indigenisation, empowerment and employ-
30
ment creation policy. While the thrust may be
progressive for the bigger part of the country, and
especially for communities endowed with good
soils, favourable rainfall and mineral deposits, it
may not be useful for marginal districts like those
in the southern parts of the country who are basi-
cally agro-pastoralists, dependent on climate
behaviour. Without a deliberate policy which
addresses climate change and variability in the
region, ZimAsset failed in its quest to empower
minority farmer communities in the south-west-
ern districts.
The greatest casualties of the failure of the
above economic policies are usually the mar-
ginal, voiceless and barely represented commu-
nities like the minority farmer households in
remote districts like Beitbridge, Bulilima and
Binga. However, the fact that these communities
have survived droughts, floods, locusts, army
worm and quelia birds outbreaks with very little
and sometimes no assistance from outside
means that they have some unique symbiosis
with their environment. They have some special
traditional environmental knowledge which
enables them to cope with such environmental
disasters which are to large extent manifesta-
tions of climate change. This chapter argues that
Impact of Climate Change in Zimbabwe
solutions to problems of climate change should,
therefore, not be from the “outside” to the
“inside” but should be from inside to outside.
Since it is the communities who know best their
environment from time immemorial, their indig-
enous environmental knowledge and coping
strategies should be respected. That knowledge
should not only be the starting point but also
lead in the formulation of any coping strategies
to climate change and variability. Adaptation
strategies or policies to climate change should
not be imported wholesome from the outside,
otherwise, like other imported policies, they are
bound to fail.
The study argues that each community must,
however, compile its indigenous knowledge data-
base, input it to the national database so that
while coping strategies to climate change and cli-
mate variability may be coordinated at national
level, each community reserves the right to man-
age and implement its own coping strategies in
line with its culture and traditional environmental
knowledge systems. Other relevant knowledge or
“expertise” from the outside should only enrich
but not displace familiar and useful local knowl-
edge which communities may have and has sus-
tained them for generations.
 Rainfall and Temperature
Fluctuations in Southwest
Zimbabwe
 nnual Rainfall and Temperature
A which in previous years were not as devastating.
Time Series Graphs
Figures 1 and 2 show some descriptive evidence
that Beitbridge is generally a dry district. Only
2 years (1952 and 1957) received annual rainfall
above 500 mm in the second generation (1952–
1982). Comparatively, the third generation
(1982–2012) had only 1  year (2000) receiving
annual rainfall above 500 mm. The second gen-
eration had 19 years which received mean annual
rainfall figures of 300 mm and below compared
to the third generation’s 21 years. The two figures
also show that temperature range for Beitbridge
increased from 1.4  °C in the second generation
(1952–1982) to 3.3  °C in the third generation
(1982–2012). Beitbridge district has, therefore,
become drier and hotter in recent years and this
has serious negative implications on both crop
and livestock production upon which livelihoods
in the district are anchored. The economically
active group comprising both men and some
brave young women would cross the border into
neighbouring South Africa in search of better
opportunities. This has resulted in most homes in
Beitbridge being de facto female-headed in the
absence of men. The women and children who
remain usually fail to produce enough from their
crop fields further exacerbating their vulnerabil-
ity. The usually trusted indigenous knowledge of
livestock husbandry seems to succumb to some
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Matsa, Climate Change and Agriculture in Zimbabwe, Sustainable Development Goals Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51346-7_4
new diseases like black leg and foot and mouth
Traditional crop varieties like sorghum, pearl
millet and rapoko are progressively becoming
weaker to the threat of climate change and vari-
ability resulting in increasingly lower yields.
Bulilima district had a total of 15  years with
annual rainfall figures above 500 mm in the sec-
ond generation (1951–1981) (Fig.  4). However,
the number of years with below 500 mm of rainfall
dropped to 13 in the third generation for Bulilima
(1981–2011), while years with 300  mm mean
annual rainfall for both generations is constant at
3. This means the third generation has been getting
drier than the second generation. Annual tempera-
ture ranges for the two generations also show that
the third generation experienced a temperature
range of 4 °C compared to 1.7 °C experienced in
generation 2. This means that the generation
1981–2011 had a rise in the temperature range of
2.3 °C. A rise in temperature and a drop in rainfall
for a district like Bulilima which is classified under
semi-arid Natural Farming Region 5 makes indig-
enous minority farming communities therein even
more vulnerable to climate shocks and stresses.
Both livestock and crops would fail and the youth
would see no hope for the future in their immedi-
ate environment and would migrate to greener
pastures in South Africa and Botswana. This has
meant that remittances from migrants have become
a significant survival strategy for the Kalanga
community of Bulilima.
31
32 Rainfall and Temperature Fluctuations in Southwest Zimbabwe

Binga experienced 18 years of rainfall above
500 mm in the second generation (1957–1985),
which, however, dropped to 14 years in the third
generation (1985–2011) (Figs.  5 and 6). The
number of years which received mean annual
rainfall of 300 mm and below increased from 0 in
the second generation to 5 in the third generation.
Temperature range in the second generation was
2.3 °C compared to 4.7 °C in the third generation.
This means that there was a 2.4 °C rise in tem-
perature range between these two generations.
Rainfall and temperature results for the three
districts as expressed by Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6
show that there was a general decline in rainfall
and a rise in temperature figures from earlier gen-
erations to current generations. The results were

Fig. 1  Mean annual rainfall-temperature graph for Beitbridge district (1952–1982) (Data Source: Meteorological
Department, Harare)

Fig. 2  Mean annual rainfall–temperature graph for Beitbridge district (1982–2012) (Data Source: Meteorological
Department, Harare)
Annual Rainfall and Temperature Time Series Graphs 33

Fig. 3  Mean annual rainfall-temperature graph for Bulilima district (1951–1981) (Data Source: Meteorological
Department, Harare)

Fig. 4  Mean annual rainfall-temperature graph for Bulilima district (1981–2011) (Data Source: Meteorological
Department, Harare)

then subjected to statistical tests to show the sig-
nificance of both the temperature rise and the
rainfall decline.
The decline in rainfall and rise in temperature
have seen most Tonga households engaging in
other survival activities like weaving, carpentry
and developing a summer home and farming area
further from the Zambezi floodplain and a winter
home and farming area closer to the Zambezi
flood plain as a survival strategy.
34 Rainfall and Temperature Fluctuations in Southwest Zimbabwe

Fig. 5  Mean annual rainfall–temperature time-series graph for Binga district (1957–1985) (Data Source: Meteorological
Department, Harare)

Fig. 6  Mean annual rainfall–temperature time-series graph for Binga district (1985–2011) (Data Source: Meteorological
Department, Harare)

generations 2 and 3 for each of the three dis-

Statistical Tests for Temperature
for Study Areas
Paired samples t-test (parametric test) was
used to test whether there was a significant dif-
ference in mean annual temperature between
tricts (Beitbridge, Bulilima and Binga). This
was done in SPSS version 20 at 95% confi-
dence level. Level of significance is 0.05 at
95% confidence interval. The rejection crite-
rion was: If p value <0.05 reject H0 and accept
H1. Similar tests were done to test whether
Statistical Tests for Temperature for Study Areas 35

there was a significant difference in mean sum-
mer and winter temperatures between genera-
tions for each of the three districts (Tables 1, 2,
and 3).
Null Hypothesis (H0):μ2nd = μ3rd
There is no significant difference in mean
annual temperature between Temp_2nd (1952–
1982) and Temp_3rd (1982–2012) generations in
Beitbridge District.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1):μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
There is significant difference in mean annual
temperature between Temp_2nd (1952–1982)
and Temp_3rd (1982–2012) generations in
Beitbridge District.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.000  <  0.05; accept
H1 and reject H0.
Null Hypothesis (H0): μ2nd = μ3rd
There is no significant difference in mean
summer temperature between Temp_2nd (1952–
1981) and Temp_3rd (1981–2011) generations in
Beitbridge District.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1): μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
There is significant difference in mean sum-
mer temperature between Temp_2nd (1952–
1981) and Temp_3rd (1981–2011) generations in
Beitbridge District.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.000  <  0.05; accept
H1 and reject H0.
Null Hypothesis (H0):μ2nd = μ3rd
There is no significant difference in mean
winter temperature between Temp_2nd (1951–
1981) and Temp_3rd (1981–2011) generations in
Beitbridge District.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1): μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
There is significant difference in mean winter
temperature between Temp_2nd (1951–1981)
and Temp_3rd (1981–2011) generations in
Beitbridge District.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.000  <  0.05; accept
H1 and reject H0.
Null Hypothesis (H0): μ2nd = μ3rd
There is no significant difference in mean
annual temperature between Temp_2nd (1951–
1981) and Temp_3rd (1981–2012) generations in
Bulilima District.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1): μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
There is significant difference in mean annual
temperature between Temp_2nd (1951–1981)
and Temp_3rd (1981–2012) generations in
Bulilima District.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.001  <  0.05; accept
H1 and reject H0.
Null Hypothesis (H0): μ2nd = μ3rd
There is no significant difference in mean
summer temperature between Temp_2nd (1956–
1984) and Temp_3rd (1984–2011) generations in
Bulilima District.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1):μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
There is significant difference in mean sum-
mer temperature between Temp_2nd (1956–
1984) and Temp_3rd (1984–2011) generations in
Bulilima District.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.011  <  0.05; accept
H1 and reject H0.
Null Hypothesis (H0): μ2nd = μ3rd
There is no significant difference in mean
winter temperature between Temp_2nd (1951–
1981) and Temp_3rd (1981–2011) generations in
Bulilima District.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1): μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
There is significant difference in mean winter
temperature between Temp_2nd (1951–1981)

Table 1  Beitbridge district annual temperature paired samples test

Paired differences
95% confidence
interval of the
Std. error difference Sig.
Mean SD mean Lower Upper t df (2-tailed)
Pair 1 Annual/Temp_2nd— −0.7226 0.9337 0.1677 −1.0651 −0.3801 −4.309 30 0.000
Annual/Temp_3rd
Pair 2 Summer/Temp_2nd— −0.7933 0.7404 0.1352 −1.0698 −0.5169 −5.869 29 0.000
Summer/Temp_3rd
Pair 3 Winter/Temp_2nd— −0.9677 0.9322 0.1674 −1.3097 −0.6258 −5.780 30 0.000
Winter/Temp_3rd
36 Rainfall and Temperature Fluctuations in Southwest Zimbabwe

Table 2  Bulilima district annual temperature paired samples test

Paired differences
95% confidence interval
Std. error of the difference Sig.
Mean SD mean Lower Upper t df (2-tailed)
Pair 1 Annual/Temp_2nd— −0.5065 0.8045 0.1445 −0.8016 −0.2113 −3.505 30 0.001
Annual/Temp_3rd
Pair 2 Summer/Temp_2nd— −0.4741 0.9011 0.1734 −0.8305 −0.1176 −2.734 26 0.011
Summer/Temp_3rd
Pair 3 Winter/Temp_2ND— −0.8276 0.8920 0.1656 −1.1669 −0.4883 −4.996 28 0.000
Winter/Temp_3rd

Table 3  Binga district annual temperature paired samples test

Paired differences
95% confidence interval
Std. error of the difference Sig.
Mean SD mean Lower Upper t df (2-tailed)
Pair 1 Annual/Temp_2nd— −0.3500 0.9311 0.1760 −0.7111 0.0111 −1.989 27 0.057
Annual/Temp_3rd
Pair 2 Summer/Temp_2nd— −0.4593 0.8391 0.1615 −0.7912 −0.1273 −2.844 26 0.009
Summer/Temp_3rd
Pair 3 Winter/Temp_2nd— −1.2929 3.8749 0.7323 −2.7954 0.2097 −1.766 27 0.089
Winter/Temp_3rd

and Temp_3rd (1981–2011) generations in 1986) and Temp_3rd (1986–2012) generations in

Bulilima District.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.000  <  0.05; accept
H1 and reject H0.
Null Hypothesis (H0): μ2nd = μ3rd
There is no significant difference in mean
annual temperature between Temp_2nd (1957–
1985) and Temp_3rd (1985–2012) generations in
Binga District.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1): μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
There is significant difference in mean annual
temperature between Temp_2nd (1957–1985)
and Temp_3rd (1985–2012) generations in Binga
District.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.057  >  0.05; accept
H0 and reject H1.
Null Hypothesis (H0): μ2nd = μ3rd
There is no significant difference in mean
summer temperature between Temp_2nd (1959–
1986) and Temp_3rd (1986–2012) generations in
Binga District.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1): μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
There is significant difference in mean sum-
mer temperature between Temp_2nd (1959–
Binga District.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.009  <  0.05; accept
H1 and reject H0.
Null Hypothesis (H0): μ2nd = μ3rd
There is no significant difference in mean
winter temperature between Temp_2nd (1955–
1983) and Temp_3rd (1983–2011) generations in
Binga District.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1):μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
There is significant difference in mean winter
temperature between Temp_2nd (1955–1983)
and Temp_3rd (1983–2011) generations in Binga
District.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.089  >  0.05; accept
H0 and reject H1.
Statistical results for the three districts show
that Binga district recorded no statistically
­significant differences in mean annual, summer
and winter temperatures for all the generations
hence accept H0. For Beitbridge and Bulilima
Districts, statistically significant differences in
mean annual, summer and winter temperatures
were observed for all generations, hence accept
Statistical Tests for Rainfall for the Three Districts 37

H1. There is, therefore, statistical evidence of cli-
mate change in terms of the temperature variable
in Beitbridge and Bulilima districts.
Statistical Tests for Rainfall
for the Three Districts
Rainfall data for the three districts were also sub-
jected to statistical t-test in SPSS version 20 to
determine whether there is evidence to prove
whether the rainfall changes shown on the mean
annual rainfall–temperature time-series graphs
are statistically significant. The level of signifi-
cance is 0.05 at 95% confidence level. The rejec-
tion criterion was: If p value <0.05 reject H0 and
accept H1. The same tests were done with mean
rainfall for summer and winter to reveal any hid-
den meaning in the data (Tables 4, 5, and 6).
Null Hypothesis (H0): μ2nd = μ3rd
Mean annual rainfall between Annual/R_
fall_2nd (1952–1982) and Annual/R_fall_3rd
(1982–2012) generations in Beitbridge District
does not significantly differ.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1): μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
Mean annual rainfall between Annual/R_
fall_2nd (1952–1982) and Annual/R_fall_3rd
(1982–2012) generations in Beitbridge District
significantly differ.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.263  >  0.05; accept
H0 and reject H1.
Null Hypothesis (H0): μ2nd = μ3rd
Mean summer rainfall between Summer/R_
fall_2nd (1952–1981) and Summer/R_fall_3rd
(1981–2011) generations in Beitbridge District
does not significantly differ.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1):μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
Mean summer rainfall between Summer/R_
fall_2nd (1952–1981) and Summer/R_fall_3rd
(1981–2011) generations in Beitbridge District
significantly differ.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.265  >  0.05; accept
H0 and reject H1.
Null Hypothesis (H0): μ2nd = μ3rd
Mean winter rainfall between Winter/R_
fall_2nd (1952–1981) and Winter/R_fall_3rd
(1981–2011) generations in Beitbridge District
does not significantly differ.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1): μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
Mean winter rainfall between Winter/R_
fall_2nd (1952–1981) and Winter/R_fall_3rd
(1981–2011) generations in Beitbridge District
significantly differ.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.791  >  0.05; accept
H0 and reject H1.
Null Hypothesis (H0):μ2nd = μ3rd
Mean annual rainfall between Annual/R_
fall_2nd (1951–1981) and Annual/R_fall_3rd
(1981–2012) generations in Bulilima District
does not significantly differ.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1): μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
Mean annual rainfall between Annual/R_
fall_2nd (1951–1981) and Annual/R_fall_3rd
(1981–2012) generations in Bulilima District sig-
nificantly differ.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.929  >  0.05; accept
H0 and reject H1.
Null Hypothesis (H0):μ2nd = μ3rd
Mean summer rainfall between Summer/R_
fall_2nd (1956–1984) and Summer/R_fall_3rd
(1985–2011) generations in Bulilima District
does not significantly differ.

Table 4  Beitbridge district annual rainfall paired samples test

Paired differences
95% confidence
interval of the
Std. error difference Sig.
Mean SD mean Lower Upper t df (2-tailed)
Pair 1 Annual/R_fall_2nd— 3.3613 16.4126 2.9478 −2.6589 9.3815 1.140 30 0.263
Annual/R_fall_3rd
Pair 2 Summer/R_ 5.1067 24.5823 4.4881 −4.0725 14.2859 1.138 29 0.265
fall_2nd—
Summer/R_fall_3rd
Pair 3 Winter/R_fall_2nd— −0.2935 6.0992 1.0954 −2.5307 1.9436 −0.268 30 0.791
Winter/R_fall_3rd
38 Rainfall and Temperature Fluctuations in Southwest Zimbabwe

Table 5  Bulilima district annual rainfall paired samples test

Paired differences
95% confidence interval
Std. error of the difference Sig.
Mean SD mean Lower Upper t df (2-tailed)
Pair 1 Annual/R_fall_2nd— 0.4097 25.4707 4.5747 −8.9331 9.7524 0.090 30 0.929
Annual/R_fall_3rd
Pair 2 Summer/R_ −1.4889 32.3021 6.2165 −14.2672 11.2894 −0.240 26 0.813
fall_2nd—
Summer/R_fall_3rd
Pair 3 Winter/R_fall_2nd— −1.5828 5.4539 1.0128 −3.6573 0.4918 −1.563 28 0.129
Winter/R_fall_3rd

Table 6  Binga district annual rainfall paired samples test

Paired differences
95% confidence interval
Std. error of the difference Sig.
Mean SD mean Lower Upper t df (2-tailed)
Pair 1 Annual/R_ 3.5964 36.4609 6.8905 −10.5416 17.7345 0.522 27 0.606
fall_2rd—
Annual/R_fall_3rd
Pair 2 Summer/R_ 6.2111 49.2090 9.4703 −13.2553 25.6776 0.656 26 0.518
fall_2nd—
Summer/R_
fall_3rd
Pair 3 Winter/R_ −0.5143 5.2781 0.9975 −2.5609 1.5323 −0.516 27 0.610
fall_2nd—
Winter/R_fall_3rd

Alternative Hypothesis (H1):μ2nd ≠ μ3rd Conclusion: Since p  =  0.129  >  0.05; accept

Mean summer rainfall between Summer/R_
fall_2nd (1956–1984) and Summer/R_fall_3rd
(1985–2011) generations in Bulilima District sig-
nificantly differ.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.813  >  0.05; accept
H0 and reject H1.
Null Hypothesis (H0):μ2nd = μ3rd
Mean winter rainfall between Winter/R_
fall_2nd (1955–1983) and Winter/R_fall_3rd
(1983–2011) generations in Bulilima District
does not significantly differ.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1):μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
Mean winter rainfall between Winter/R_
fall_2nd (1955–1983) and Winter/R_fall_3rd
(1983–2011) generations in Bulilima District sig-
nificantly differ.
H0 and reject H1.
Null Hypothesis (H0):μ2nd = μ3rd
Mean annual rainfall between Annual/R_
fall_2nd (1957–1985) and Annual/R_fall_3rd
(1985–2012) generations in Binga District does
not significantly differ.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1):μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
Mean annual rainfall between Annual/R_
fall_2nd (1957–1985) and Annual/R_fall_3rd
(1985–2012) generations in Binga District sig-
nificantly differ.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.606  >  0.05; accept
H0 and reject H1.
Null Hypothesis (H0):μ2nd = μ3rd
Mean summer rainfall between Summer/R_
fall_2nd (1959–1986) and Summer/R_fall_3rd
Mean Summer Rainfall Coefficient of Variation…
(1986–2012) generations in Binga District does
not significantly differ.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1):μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
Mean summer rainfall between Summer/R_
fall_2nd (1959–1986) and Summer/R_fall_3rd
(1986–2012) generations in Binga District sig-
nificantly differ.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.518  >  0.05; accept
H0 and reject H1.
Null Hypothesis (H0):μ2nd = μ3rd
Mean winter rainfall between Winter/R_
fall_2nd (1958–1985) and Winter/R_fall_3rd
(1985–2012) generations in Binga District does
not significantly differ.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1):μ2nd ≠ μ3rd
Mean winter rainfall between Winter/R_
fall_2nd (1958–1985) and Winter/R_fall_3rd
(1985–2012) generations in Binga District sig-
nificantly differ.
Conclusion: Since p  =  0.610  >  0.05; accept
H0 and reject H1.
Although rainfall time–series graphs for the
three districts (Section “Local Leaders
Coefficient of variation = Standard deviation / mean × 100.
 ean Annual Rainfall Coefficient
M  ean Summer Rainfall Coefficient
of Variation (Figs. 7 and 8) (Tables 7
and 8)
Binga District mean annual rainfall coefficient of
variation was variably low at 33% for second
generation compared to 47% for third generation
(Figs. 9 and 10) (Tables 9 and 10).
Bulilima District mean annual rainfall
Coefficient of Variation for second generation
and third generation was invariably low at 33%
and 32%, respectively (Figs. 11 and 12) (Tables
11 and 12).
Beitbridge District’s mean annual rainfall
coefficient of variation for the second generation
varied from as low as 35% in the second genera-
tion to 53% in the third generation.
39
Perceptions and Experiences on Climate Change”
in Chap. 5) show that there is evidence of change
in the amount of rainfall between second and
third generations, these changes are not signifi-
cant statistically. Mean annual, summer and win-
ter rainfall in all generations does not significantly
differ in all three districts, hence accept H0.
 oefficient of Variation for Rainfall
C
in the Three Districts
Rainfall is the most important climate variable in
south-western Zimbabwe because of minority
farmers’ reliance on semi-nomadic pastoralism and
rain-fed crop farming. Mean annual rainfall coeffi-
cient of variation was calculated in SPSS version
20 to determine the percentage variation from one
generation to the next. Since precipitation falls
mostly in the form of rainfall and in summer, sum-
mer coefficient of variation was also calculated and
compared between generations. The formula for
calculation of coefficient of variation is:
M
of Variation (Figs. 13 and 14)
(Tables 13 and 14)
Binga District’s mean summer rainfall coeffi-
cient of variation for the second generation var-
ied from 34 to 48% in the third generation
(Figs. 15 and 16) (Tables 15 and 16).
The mean summer rainfall coefficient of vari-
ation for Beitbridge rose from 35% in the second
generation to 53% in the third generation
(Figs. 17 and 18) (Tables 17 and 18).
Bulilima District had a mean summer rainfall
coefficient of variation of 33% for the second
generation, which dropped to 30% in the third
generation. The variability factor for Bulilima
district is, therefore, low.
40
Annual rainfall and temperature time–series
graphs show that mean annual rainfall amounts
for all three districts have been decreasing from
the second to the third generation. This is evi-
denced by the decrease in the number of years
with rainfall amounts of 500 mm and above for
the three sampled districts from generation 2 to
generation 3. There is also an increase in the
number of years receiving 300  mm or less of
mean annual rainfall for all three districts in gen-
eration 3 compared to generation 2. There is,
however, no statistically significant evidence to
suggest that mean annual or summer rainfall has
decreased from generation 2 to generation 3.
There is statistical proof of rainfall variability
between generations 2 and 3 for Binga and
Beitbridge districts. The two districts had higher
rainfall variability in the third generation than in
the second. Bulilima; however, had invariably
low rainfall variability between the two genera-
Fig. 7  Mean annual coefficient of variation for Binga district (1957–1985)
Rainfall and Temperature Fluctuations in Southwest Zimbabwe
tions. Results from the rainfall and temperature
time–series graphs show that temperature has
increased in the three districts. Statistical tests
(paired samples t-tests) also prove that tempera-
ture has increased for Beitbridge and Bulilima
districts. There is, however, no significant differ-
ence in temperature between generations 2 and 3
for Binga district. In summary, this chapter
proves that climate change claims by minority
farmer communities in the three sample south-­
western districts are reasonably justified both
from a descriptive and analytical statistical point
of view and this negatively affects their produc-
tive capacity and indigenous minority commu-
nity farmers. Their livestock heads have
significantly deteriorated in both number and
quality and their indigenous knowledge to crop
and livestock survival is slowly succumbing to
the pressures, shocks and stresses of climate
change and variability.
Mean Summer Rainfall Coefficient of Variation... 41

Fig. 8  Mean annual coefficient of variation for Binga district (1985–2012)

Table 7  Binga district mean annual coefficient of varia- Table 8  Binga district mean annual coefficient of varia-
tion (1957–1985) tion (1985–2011)

N Mean SD N Mean SD
Year 29 1971.00 8.515 Year 28 1998.50 8.226
Annual rainfall (mm) 29 600.631 200.0848 Annual rainfall (mm) 28 570.18 268.326
Valid N (list-wise) 29 Valid N (list-wise) 28

Fig. 9  Mean annual coefficient of variation for Bulilima district (1951–1981)

42 Rainfall and Temperature Fluctuations in Southwest Zimbabwe

Fig. 10  Mean annual coefficient of variation for Bulilima district (1981–2011)

Table 9  Bulilima district mean annual coefficient of Table 10  Bulilima district mean annual coefficient of
variation (1951–1981) variation (1981–2011)
N Mean SD N Mean SD
Year 31 1966.00 9.092 Year 32 1996.50 9.381
Annual rainfall (mm) 31 502.45 166.043 Annual rainfall (cm) 32 49.209 15.8926
Valid N (list-wise) 31 Valid N (list-wise) 32

Fig. 11  Mean annual coefficient of variation for Beitbridge district (1952–1982)
Mean Summer Rainfall Coefficient of Variation... 43

Fig. 12  Mean annual rainfall coefficient of variation for Beitbridge district (1982–2012)

Table 11  Beitbridge district mean annual coefficient of Table 12  Beitbridge district mean annual coefficient of
variation (1952–1982) variation (1982–2012)
N Mean SD N Mean SD
Year 31 1967.00 9.092 Year 31 1997.00 9.092
Annual rainfall (mm) 31 295.13 103.643 Annual rainfall (mm) 31 261.52 138.635
Valid N (list-wise) 31 Valid N (list-wise) 31

Fig. 13  Mean summer coefficient of variation for Binga district (1959–1985)
44 Rainfall and Temperature Fluctuations in Southwest Zimbabwe

Fig. 14  Mean summer coefficient of variation for Binga district (1986–2011)

Table 13  Binga district mean summer coefficient of Table 14  Binga district mean summer coefficient of
variation (1959–1986) variation (1986–2011)
N Mean SD N Mean SD
Year 28 1972.50 8.226 Year 27 1999.00 7.937
Mean rainfall (mm) 28 912.18 304.643 Mean rainfall (mm) 27 841.96 404.339
Valid N (list-wise) 28 Valid N (list-wise) 27

Fig. 15  Mean summer coefficient of variation for Beitbridge district (1952–1981)
Mean Summer Rainfall Coefficient of Variation... 45

Fig. 16  Mean summer coefficient of variation for Beitbridge district (1981–2011)

Table 15  Beitbridge district mean summer coefficient of Table 16  Beitbridge district mean summer coefficient of
variation (1952–1981) variation (1981–2011)
N Mean SD N Mean SD
Year 30 1966.50 8.803 Year 31 1996.00 9.092
Mean rainfall (mm) 30 433.67 150.586 Mean rainfall (mm) 31 381.39 200.890
Valid N (list-wise) 30 Valid N (list-wise) 31

Fig. 17  Mean summer coefficient of variation for Bulilima district (1956–1985)
46 Rainfall and Temperature Fluctuations in Southwest Zimbabwe

Fig. 18  Mean summer coefficient of variation for Bulilima district (1985–2011)

Table 17  Bulilima district mean summer coefficient of Table 18  Bulilima district mean summer coefficient of
variation (1956–1985) variation (1985–2011)
N Mean SD N Mean SD
Year 29 1970.00 8.515 Year 27 1998.00 7.937
Mean rainfall (mm) 29 716.55 235.009 Mean rainfall (mm) 27 742.33 222.037
Valid N (list-wise) 29 Valid N (list-wise) 27
 Climate Change Impact
on Indigenous Minority Farmer
Communities in Southwest
Zimbabwe
 vidence of Climate Change
E that the rainy season is now starting late and yet
in South-Western Zimbabwe
There is overwhelming environmental evidence
indicative of a changing climate in their respec-
tive communities. These include, among others,
drying of perennial rivers and springs, late onset
of the rains, early cessation of the rain season,
change in wind patterns, diminishing pastures,
warmer winters and hotter summers.
Tonga communities in Binga district have
experienced a number of events pointing to a
changing climate in the form of environmental
evidence like the drying of perennial rivers and
springs, late onset and early cessation of the
rains. Pastures are getting depleted by climate
change and winds which used to bring rainfall
are now less reliable. The hot season is becoming
hotter and the cold season is now warmer than in
the past decades.
In Bulilima district, onset of the rains as the
most salient environmental evidence attributable
to climate change. This is particularly important
for a district in which livelihoods are agro-based
and depend mainly on subsistence crop farming
and sedentary pastoralism. Water and pastures
are regarded highly as they are common prop-
erty which benefits all community members
impartially. This makes drying of perennial riv-
ers and springs and early cessation of the rains
matters of serious concern for farmers.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Matsa, Climate Change and Agriculture in Zimbabwe, Sustainable Development Goals Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51346-7_5
In Beitbridge district there is a high realisation
ending early. This could be linked to the change
in wind patterns which apparently changed. The
summer season is becoming hotter while winter
is becoming warmer. The apparent rise in tem-
perature could partly be the reason for the drying
of perennial rivers and springs because of
increased evapotranspiration. Increased tempera-
ture can also help explain diminishing pastures
through depletion in soil moisture.
Other environmental-related evidence attrib-
utable to climate change includes very poor crop
yields, increased soil erosion, dying of livestock
due to drought and repeated outbreak of army
worms and quelia birds, which destroy crops
almost seasonally.
 ocal Leaders Perceptions
L
and Experiences on Climate Change
In Binga district, all the district’s big rivers like
Sibungwe, Mativi and Mlibizi used to have
sacred natural pools but these have since disap-
peared due to heavy siltation. Rains have com-
pletely taken a different calendar since the 1980s
and this can be emphasised by analysing the
Tonga nomenclature of months of the year.
February is called Milonga in Tonga because all
rivers would normally be flowing during that
period. It is also called Mulumi (man or husband)
47
48 Climate Change Impact on Indigenous Minority Farmer Communities in Southwest Zimbabwe
because it used to be the wettest month of the
year, hence “husband” in terms of rainfall
amount. January is called Mukazimaziba [(wife
of the rainy month Milonga (February)] because
rains were lower than in February. Both January
and February are now dry months because of the
changing climate. March is called Miyoba, mean-
ing a prolonged period of an overcast sky with
sporadic rains. In recent decades, March hardly
has any such clouds nor receives any rainfall.
Binga is generally a warm district, but used to
witness a cold spell characterised by some wind in
July. The month of July is called Kunkumuna
masamu in Tonga, referring to the shedding of
leaves by trees when the wind blows. Some of the
trees would start shooting leaves in August; hence,
August is called Itwi, referring to the shooting of
new leaves which continue until September when
all trees would normally have sprung back to full
life with new leaves. Shooting of leaves made peo-
ple start eating fruits like inji (red ivory), mbubu
(umviyo) and mabiyu (baobab). In recent years, the
shooting of new leaves begins in early November
for most trees, with some hard woods stretching
up to December without new leaves. Fruits like
inji and mabiyu are now ripening in February and
March instead of November to December.
In Tonga, October is called Kavumbi kaniini
which refers to small clouds which do not nor-
mally result in rainfall. November is Ivumbipati,
referring to a big cloud. November used to be
characterised by thick cumulonimbus clouds
which usually provided the first heavy rains that
gave relief to people, livestock and wildlife.
These early rains were characterised by lightning
and thunder. Farmers used these early rains to
plant various types of crops which resulted in
good harvests. The month of December in Tonga
is called Nalupale, meaning the month of weed-
ing. December used to provide a dry spell which
allowed farmers to weed. In recent years, how-
ever, December has been offering the most sig-
nificant rains which allow farmers to start
planting in earnest, those who miss December
rains would normally lose a whole season.
The Tonga used to do shadduf irrigation on
some of the large perennial pools along large riv-
ers like Sibungwe, Mativi and Mlibizi. Families
grew tomatoes and vegetables like bbobola
(pumpkin leaves for relish) throughout the year.
They used to harvest twice annually because of
abundant water from these rivers and several
perennial pools which also provided them with a
lot of fish swimming upstream from Lake Kariba.
Manjolo springs in Manjolo wetland used to be
very large, but has now shrunken to only about an
eighth of its 1980 size.
Other evidence pointing to a changing climate
in Tinde ward is that crop yields are no longer suf-
ficient to last households up to the next harvest.
Tinde used to be a fairly wet ward, where farmers
grew maize as the staple crop but they have since
abandoned it for small grains. In Chuunga village,
Lunga ward, farmers used to grow traditional
Tonga tobacco, kalukotwe, green vegetables, sweet
potatoes, all of which require a lot of water but in
recent decades, yields have been severely reduced
due to moisture stress. Although some women still
do basketry using sisal and reeds, these raw materi-
als are no longer as readily available as before
because of deficient soil moisture resulting from
environmental change and climate variability.
In Bulilima district, Madlambuzi ward which
used to receive early rains, insewula, October,
now receives them in December. The rainy sea-
son oftentimes abruptly ends in February (instead
of April) when crops are still immature and
yearning for more moisture. December used to be
a very wet month and by Christmas; the maize
crop would usually be tussling. February and
March were very wet months unlike in current
seasons where the rains are very erratic, short-­
term, violent and sometimes fall in winter months
where to a large extent they become agricultur-
ally not so useful since they will not be expected
and therefore no meaningful water harvesting
takes place. The pattern of seasons is no longer as
predictable as it used to be. Rainfall is of great
significance for communities in south-west
Zimbabwe and yet its starting time, its end-time,
its quality and quantity have all changed to
become unreliable and confusing to the farmers.
In November 2012, for example, there were vio-
lent storms accompanied by thunder and hail
which lasted only 30  min but caused serious
destruction to homes, livestock and property in
Voices of Women on Climate Change and Minority Communities
most wards of Bulilima district. Because of the
scarcity of rain, in practise, it is safe to say that
the districts in south-west Zimbabwe now experi-
ences prolonged hot dry summers and shorter
warmer winters instead of the “normal” hot wet
summers and cool dry winters. June is no longer
the traditional coldest month as July and August
are now sometimes much colder. Rain and
bumper-­ harvest indicator birds like “masiyab-
hundu” and many other natural indicators of sea-
son patterns are no longer visible or meaningful
in the districts. It is now difficult to predict the
weather through nature.
In Beitbridge’s central wards of Mtetengwe I,
II and III, early summer rains which used to start
in September/October are now starting in
December. June and July which are supposedly
the coldest months of the year are no longer very
cold February, traditionally a very rainy month,
now being one of the coldest months. Drought is
now more frequent and temperatures are no lon-
ger predictable and when the rains come, they are
uncharacteristically erratic and cause lots of
damage to bridges, schools and homes, and even
kill people and livestock through very violent and
strong winds, flooding, lightning and thunder. It
is clear in all wards of Beitbridge that seasons
have changed and this confuses farmers as to
when to plant. Pastures in the eastern wards of
Beitbridge comprising Dite I, Dite II and
Shangani-dominated Chipise community are
now few even if it rains. This has resulted in hun-
dreds livestock deaths in recent years.
In Suthu dominated north-western wards of
Siyoka I, Siyoka II and Dendele, environmental
evidence resulting from climate change and cli-
mate variability includes heavy siltation of
Umzingwane River which used to be perennial
with multiple permanent pools. The river no lon-
ger has any pools. Harvests are now very poor
unlike in the past when grain used to rot in grana-
ries because of bumper harvests.
Places like Lutumba village in central
Beitbridge, which used to successfully produce
more dry land maize than pearl millet and sor-
ghum, no longer produce maize because of unre-
liable rainfall. Mopane worms (amacimbi) used
to be plentiful in the whole of Beitbridge district
49
but because of low and variable amounts of rain-
fall, have become fewer, smaller and conse-
quently they fetch much less on the market for
the farmers than before. During drought years,
amacimbi die before maturity. Amarula juice, the
most common fruit product in Lutumba ward has
become less common.
Field crop harvests used to take place from
April to August but now they end in May because
yields are usually very few and inadequate.
Wildlife, which used to be a common sight in
most parts of the wards, has also disappeared
partly because of negative variations in climate
change–related environmental modifications.
 oices of Women on Climate
V
Change and Minority Communities
Tonga wards of Lunga, Sinansengwe, Lubu, Tinde
and Lubimbi wards in Binga district have always
been fishing communities, having been removed
from the Zambezi River valley flood plain by the
colonial government in the 1960s to pave way for
the construction of Kariba Dam. They continued
fishing from small dams and perennial pools in the
district, all of which have now completely silted or
have been reduced to seasonal water points by cli-
mate change and environmental change agents.
Wild fruits like inji (nyii), mbuubu (umviyo),
mbuunya (umtshwankela), manego (matohwe)
which they used to sell are now very few and not
even enough for the community itself. Tonga com-
munities used to prepare daily family porridge
from mbuubu and mabiyu (baobab) and herdboys
would milk cows while herding cattle, mix mabiyu
with fresh milk which immediately turned sour
and an ideal relish for the local sadza meal or even
drink the thick milk as a meal in itself. Families
would also roast inteme (mazhumwi) seeds, add
salt or sugar for more taste and the whole family
would have that for a meal. Climate change has
caused drastic changes to the ecosystem, baobab
fruits are very few as most trees no longer bear
fruit. Cattle for milk are now also few because of
depleted natural pastures and consequently envi-
ronmental cushions of household welfare and food
security have since been eroded.
50 Climate Change Impact on Indigenous Minority Farmer Communities in Southwest Zimbabwe
Women used to gather berries which locally
included bwidi, babbonga, ntinde, masabayu and
edible roots as supplements to their diets, but
most of these are now extinct because the local
climate has shifted out of their ranges of toler-
ance. Hyparrhenia grass used to abound in Binga
district and women used it to harvest it very close
to their homesteads to thatch their huts. Currently,
however, it takes men to go up hilly open spaces
to harvest thatch grass. Hills are infested with
wild animals and are generally not safe for
women. Most families are now using millet stalks
for thatching because of the scarcity of thatch
grass (Hyparrhenia). Gathering fruits and drying
them for selling also used to be a very important
economic activity to complement farming for
Tonga communities; however, fruits have become
scarce as trees hardly reproduce.
In Bulilima, the planting period which used to
be mid-November has now shifted significantly
to mid-December or early January. Masendu,
Malopa and Madlambuzi dams which used to be
full for most of the year, now dry up completely
as early as September and wetlands in the district
have since dried up. Most farmers used to have
bumper harvests which filled granaries to capac-
ity but now no one manages such a feat. Crops
like roundnuts, amakhomane and sweet potatoes
no longer do well in the district compared to the
1970s. Drought, which used to be experienced in
some years, has now become almost a seasonal
experience resulting in serious livestock deaths.
The district’s major river Tekwane, once a
dreaded perennial river with a lot of deep lagoons,
has become heavily silted and seasonal.
In Binga district, the kakunka tree which
women harvested from river banks and used for
their basketry craft work has since depleted due
to climate change, environmental change and cli-
mate variability. This limits their survival options.
I ndigenous Households Livelihoods
Strategies and Climate Change
in South-Western Zimbabwe
Being agro-pastoralists, subsistence minority
farmer communities in south-western Zimbabwe
have adopted indigenous mechanisms of coping
with climate change and variability both for
themselves and their livestock.
 ousehold Strategies for Coping
H
with Climate Change
Tonga communities in the extreme western part
of Binga district rely significantly on traditional
household coping strategies to cushion them-
selves against climate change. These strategies
include planting early maturing varieties of the
staple maize crop; planting drought-resistant
crops like sorghum, millet and rapoko; practising
probability planting where different types of crop
seeds are strewn onto a piece of land at the same
time with the hope that even if some fail to reach
maturity, others will. Eating wild fruits as house-
hold meals and collecting and drying wild fruits
for future use. However, most fruit trees only
bear fruit when it rains and therefore it is only
during wet years that fruits are collected for
immediate household use or dried for future use.
Planting long-term varieties like sorghum, mil-
let, round peas and groundnuts with short-­term
varieties like maize, watermelons and green and
yellow melons at the same time has worked in
good years as a coping strategy. This strategy helps
farmers get some harvest from short-term varieties
in case of a short rainfall season and at least some
harvest from long-term varieties if rainfall is
evenly distributed throughout the season.
Early planting as a coping strategy to counter
climate change stressors allows for replanting in
case of poor germination due to a deceptive rain-
fall pattern during the farming season. Farmers
have also adopted multiple planting dates as an
important coping strategy for climate change and
variability. This is meant to spread the risk in case
of climate-induced hazards like drought, floods,
quelea birds, locusts and rats.
Polyculture is also an important coping strat-
egy among the Tonga. This is whereby multiple
drought-tolerant crops like sorghum, millet and
watermelons are intercropped with legumes like
groundnuts and round nuts, which require higher
amounts of moisture. This is meant to guard
against total loss in case of climatic hazards like
drought or excessive rainfall.
Indigenous Households Livelihoods Strategies and Climate Change in South-Western Zimbabwe
In Bulilima district, except for planting
drought-resistant crops, Kalanga subsistence
farmers have no other indigenous coping strategy
which they trust wholesomely except planting
drought-resistant crops. However, even drought-­
tolerant crops, such as sorghum, millet and
rapoko, only do well during seasons with fairly
moderate rainfall. The staple maize crop, which
is the natural favourite for most families, rarely
does well in the district due to rainfall unpredict-
ability and variability, even if they plant early
maturing varieties which need fairly minimal
moisture. Traditional coping mechanisms, like
collecting and drying wild fruits for future use,
are now not as effective as in previous years since
many trees no longer bear fruit.
Drying crops for future use is no longer a
common practice as it used to be because har-
vests have become very reduced and unpredict-
able. Crops like groundnuts and many maize
varieties are no longer suitable for the district
while traditional vegetables like ulude, imbuya
and idelele now only appear intermittently from
season to season depending on soil moisture
availability. Probability planting which used to
yield favourable results in the 1960s through to
early 1980s presently yields very disappointing
results on average with some years registering
complete crop failure.
Farmers in Bulilima District, however, make
environmentally conscious decisions to produce
a variety of crops which have different “shelf
lives”. Such crops include yellow melons, green
melons, sweet reeds for immediate- or short-term
use while crops like sorghum, maize, millet,
ground nuts and round nuts can last a whole year
or even years if well conserved. Like in their
minority counterparts in Beitbridge, some
Kalanga communities keep diverse breeds of tra-
ditional livestock, most of which have some
resistance to drought. The Matabele mie goat, for
example, is a popular breed with these communi-
ties. This breed, together with the fat-tailed sheep
breed, is highly fertile and can have treble births
within a year. Adaptable cattle breeds include
Nguni, Tuli, mabula and manjanja, all of which
are drought resistant. San communities, most of
whom had since shifted from hunting to seden-
tary farming, have reverted back to hunting
51
because of the unreliability of farming. They now
supplement their household food requirements
through game meat from animals like impala,
kudu, springbok and ruminants like rock rabbit,
buck and hare. They also sell some game meat for
cash to buy other household food items.
In Beitbridge District, common indigenous
coping strategies to combat food insecurity asso-
ciated with climate change include planting
drought-resistant crops like sorghum and millet
and to a lesser extent rapoko. Farmers now prac-
tice probability farming because of the semi-arid
conditions of the district which fall in the south-­
eastern Lowveld region of the country, character-
ised by an unpredictable and variable nature of
the rainfall pattern. Traditional adaptation mech-
anisms like collecting and drying wild fruits for
future use, drying some crops for future use and
eating wild fruits as household meals are, how-
ever, diminishing because crops like sweet reeds,
groundnuts and watermelons which used to be
dried for future use are no longer intensively
grown in the district because of poor rainfall
regimes. Traditional fruit trees like umkhomo,
uxakuxaku and umganu are now very few in
Beitbridge because the trees no longer observe
their normal reproductive cycle because of
marked changes in rainfall, temperature and soil
moisture. For some farmers, planting early
maturing varieties of the national staple maize is
still helpful in the district since in climatically
favourable years they get decent maize yields.
The Venda, Shangani and Suthu of Beitbridge
District also cope with climate change through
diversification of economic activities. This
community-­ based mixed economy strategy
involves pastoralism, cultivation, hunting,
­fishing, barter trading, cross-border trading, for-
mal and informal employment and remittances
from siblings in the regional Diaspora, mainly
South Africa and Botswana. These diverse
sources of livelihood sustain communities even
during worst climatic and other hazards.
Women, girls and small boys gather fruits like
umviyo, umqokolo, mtshwankela, amaganu,
umkhomo, umkhemeswane and umhali as house-
hold food supplements when these are in season.
Vegetables from the wild, like imbuya, idelele and
ulude, are important relish during the wet season.
52 Climate Change Impact on Indigenous Minority Farmer Communities in Southwest Zimbabwe
Together with bean leaves, pumpkin leaves and
garden vegetables, these are dried and preserved
for use during drought or famine periods.
Locusts, inyeza (cicadas), inhlwa and mopane
worms (amacimbi) are important delicacies
among the Venda, Suthu and Shangani communi-
ties of Zimbabwe’s Beitbridge District. Although
mopane worms can be eaten while fresh, they are
usually dried and roasted as preservation for
future use. Mopane worms are the most impor-
tant seasonal delicacy from the wild in all south-­
western Zimbabwean districts, they are also an
important source of income for households. The
income is used to purchase other important food
items like mealie meal and grain during agricul-
turally challenging times.
The Venda also gathers roots like matobhi,
makwikwi and madzamoyo and adds to their diet
in drought periods. These onion-like roots are
found in wetland areas which because of climate
change are now under severe threat of
extinction.
 xperiences of Community Elders
E going children. Mopane worms (amacimbi)
and Local Leaders
Although Tonga communities still have faith in
their traditional slash-burn-dig and sow farming
technique, an equivalent of the chitemene shift-
ing cultivation system in Zambia, they have since
upgraded it to proper conservation farming (zero
tillage) where they now dig deeper spaced basins
capable of holding water for a prolonged period
of time. This technique gives the crop more time
to utilise soil moisture for maximised growth.
On average, women in most wards of Binga
District 7–12 km to fetch water, and to cope with
water challenges, some families now have two
homes, one closer to the Zambezi River for water
and fish for consumption and to supplement their
income, and another in areas with better crop
yields like Tinde ward. Homes closer to the
Zambezi are illegal but farmers take the risk as a
response to shrinking livelihood options as wet-
lands, rivers and streams in Tinde ward dried as
they succumbed to climate change and climate
variability.
In response to difficulties associated with cli-
mate change, gender roles have shifted. Both
men and women now do fishing for money to
fend for their families. Tonga women, however,
partake in more chores than men who usually
spend time drinking beer and smoking traditional
marijuana. Women thus fend for the family more
than men fetching firewood, water and working
in the fields. Cattle are usually not for farming,
but for prestige in the home, and hence digging
for planting in crop fields is done manually,
mostly by women. Some women seasonally
abandon their less productive fields in places like
Kariyangwe, Lunga, Siachilaba and Sinampande
and go to the comparatively more productive
neighbouring district of Gokwe where they work
for food for their families. Some women go to
seek employment in towns like Hwange and
Bulawayo, something which only men used to do
in the past.
Elders in Bulilima district reminisce with nos-
talgia how in their they would pick indumba (cow
peas) from their fields, which they sold to get
money to buy school uniforms for their school-­
which used to be abundant in the district have
now retreated to western wards like Bambadzi
and Makhulela, which still have more pristine
mopane trees and are closer to Hwange National
Park. In most of the district, the possibility of
trees bearing enough fruit in range, quantity and
quality have become very unpredictable.
Environmental activities like hunting have since
been abandoned because wild animals like
­impalas, kudus, zebras, lions (amabubesi) and
foxes (amaganyane) have become scarce in the
district mainly because of climate-related envi-
ronmental changes. In the 1960s, 1970s to early
1980s, households in Bulilima district had many
head of cattle of more than 100, but these have
significantly dropped to an average of 20 because
of climate change–related factors.
Household income-generating activities, like
traditional beer-brewing (indali) for sale, have
since been abandoned. Both grain and water, two
major raw materials for traditional beer brewing
have become scarce. Variable rainfall regimes
have also led to community field work-together
Indigenous Households Livelihoods Strategies and Climate Change in South-Western Zimbabwe
parties (ilima) being rendered impracticable
since working in the fields has become less due to
poor rains. Men have since abandoned activities
like crafting decorative pots, cooking sticks, and
wooden plates, while women have also aban-
doned basket-weaving competitions because of
scarce raw materials. Agricultural shows have
since been abandoned in Bulilima District since
yields are poor almost every year.
In Beitbridge district, elders reminisce how
they used to survive on their seasonal harvests
and even sold some maize to the Grain Marketing
Board (GMB). However, because of persistent
droughts, most farmers have since abandoned dry
land farming and, in areas with water sources,
have resorted to gardening projects which offer
better hope. Due to rainfall variability, the usu-
ally dependable amarula tree no longer flower to
give the marula fruit for community consumption
and traditional beer brewing.
Some women prepare sadza during council-­
administered month-end district cattle sales to
cope with hardships caused by climate change
and climate variability. Cattle buyers and other
traders come from different parts of the country
like Harare, Bulawayo, Chiredzi, Mberengwa,
Chipinge and Gokwe and camp at various cattle
selling points in the district, and this becomes a
relatively viable business market for various
items including food.
During such sales, cattle sale points like
Zezani, Musame, Toporo, Siyoka 1, Dite 1 and
Dendele become host to hundreds of people,
among them, traders in various goods like maize
(Gokwe), sweet potatoes (Chipinge), amacimbi,
sour milk, clothes from South Africa and various
other items. Women from agro-pastoral commu-
nities in Beitbridge take the opportunity to sell
food items, including the staple sadza, to these
traders. Other local products at these markets
include amacimbi, tomatoes, watermelons,
pumpkins and green mealies if they are in season.
There are also others who order oranges from
Nottingham and Bishopstone citrus estates in the
western part of the district for resale along major
highways to Harare and Bulawayo.
Some households in the north-western wards
of Siyoka I, Siyoka II and Dendele have big gar-
53
dens where minority farming communities grow
vegetables and the staple maize crop. The water
table in these wards is relatively high (3 m below
the surface) and gardens are watered from com-
munal boreholes and household open wells.
West of Beitbridge District in Maramani ward,
both men and women are involved in the Ilala
Project at Maramani Craft Centre where they use
ilala tree as raw material to make hats, mats,
brooms which they sell locally to visitors, and in
towns like Beitbridge and Gwanda. The western
wards of Maramani, Masera and Machuchuta are
rich wildlife areas. These areas have running
communal areas management programme for
indigenous resources (CAMPFIRE) projects.
Proceeds from CAMPFIRE projects are, how-
ever, not for household consumption but are
meant to benefit communities through the con-
struction and rehabilitation of community infra-
structure like schools, roads, clinics and bridges.
At household level, western communities of
Beitbridge rely mainly on livestock which
includes cattle, goats and sheep. On average,
households in Maramani, Masera and Machchuta
have between 20 and 30 herds of cattle. Those
with most cattle have around 300 while those
with least have five herds. Goat ownership aver-
ages between 60 and 70, those with most have in
excess of 600 and those with least range between
20 and 30. Average sheep ownership per house-
hold oscillates between 20 and 30 with those
most having as many as 70 and those with least
having a flock of 10 sheep. Most households use
livestock as cushion against climate change–
related shocks and stressors.
Most children in Beitbridge District go to South
Africa to work as farm labourers or to do menial
jobs in towns and cities like Polokwane, Messina,
Johannesburg and Pretoria. These children then
send remittances back home. Children usually
attend primary school up to Grade 7 after which
parents encourage them to “track down south” so
that they may fend for themselves and the extended
family back home through remittances and other
goods and services. There is hardly a family in
Beitbridge without siblings in South Africa.
Communities in Dombolefu ward in Bulilima
district have abandoned perennial riverside gar-
54 Climate Change Impact on Indigenous Minority Farmer Communities in Southwest Zimbabwe
dening because most rivers run dry soon after the
rains. They have also reduced the hectarage of
most crops, especially maize because maize con-
tinuously results in poor yields. Sour milk
(amasi), which used to be sold throughout the
district, even in Plumtree town, is now invisible
because of poor pastures. Barter trade, where
communities used to exchange mopane worms
for items like sugar, mealie meal and soap have
since stopped in wards where mopane worms are
no longer available, for example, Madlambuzi,
Nyele, Vulindlela, Natane Bezu, Tjankwa,
Gwambe among others.
 bserved Climate Change-Related
O
Household Coping Strategies
Along the road from Cross Dete to Binga is a lot
of craftwork selling by both men and women
along the Binga–Kamativi highway and at most
service centres and growth points like Tinde,
Siachilaba, Siyansundu and Manjolo in the dis-
trict. Women make a lot of weave and basketry
items from sisal and reeds that they collect from
river banks and the shoreline of Lake Kariba.
Men make attractive traditional curios from local
hardwood trees like pterocarpous angelenses
(mukwa), baikiaea plurjuga (teak) and afzelia
quanzes (mukamba) found mainly on the Situmba
escarpment and other parts of the district. While
such work has been used in Tonga homes as
household furniture, commercialising it is a new
phenomenon meant as an alternative source of
income to counter climate change challenges in
the community. These curios are sold very
cheaply as the carpenters only need to raise any
amount to alleviate household needs back home.
At Makhado business centre in Beitbridge,
some women have abandoned farming altogether
and set up roadside food markets to ward off cli-
mate change impacts. They sell different items
like oranges, whatever agricultural items they can
get and even hot food for travellers. These market
areas, which now double as their homes, have
now developed into shanty settlements where dif-
ferent other vices like prostitution, fuel dealing
and drug dealing are done. The Beitbridge–
Bulawayo highway is always busy with travellers
to and from South Africa.
 oping Strategies for Livestock
C
Sustenance Under Climate Change
Indigenous minority communities in south-­
western Zimbabwe are sedentary pastoralists
who depend heavily on livestock for their suste-
nance. Their various types of livestock which
include goats, sheep, donkeys and cattle are vul-
nerable to climate shocks, climate stressors and
environmental change.
 ommunity Pastoral Strategies
C
Under Climate Change
To cope with climate change-related challenges
affecting their livestock, Tonga minority farmers
in Binga district reduce the size of their livestock
herds during drought periods by either selling to
abattoirs or through barter trade with other com-
munities. This is a strategy to avoid livestock
losses during prolonged dry periods. Some farm-
ers, however, send their cattle to far-off places
with better pastures, while others preserve crop
residue like maize and sorghum stalks after har-
vest or source tree leaves, twigs and fruits for
them to reduce deaths.
In Bulilima district, pastures close to house-
holds are now few in the dry season, and farmers
send their cattle to far-off places (emirageni) for
better pastures. While sending cattle to imilaga
and preserving crop residue is mainly for cattle,
farmers supplement feed for other stock like
goats, sheep and donkeys by sourcing tree leaves,
twigs and fruits for them.
Preserving crop residues after harvest is
another coping strategy for protecting livestock
from climate change impacts. Residues preserved
include maize, millet and sorghum stover.
However, preservation of stover is only viable in
seasons which experience reasonable rains to
allow crops and grass to grow.
In Bulilima district reducing the size of live-
stock herds is yet another strategy used to pre-
Community Leaders, Livestock and the Climate Change Threat 55

serve their livestock. However, this reduction did every 10 head of cattle, local minority farmers
not significantly benefit farmers as farmers sold are charged one beast during each muraga sea-
their livestock too late, long after they have been sonal episode. Most of the minority farmer com-
exposed to a prolonged period of hunger and munities whose cattle herds average 30 per
thirst. Farmers thus hold on to their livestock for household, feel the muraga practice is important
far too long until they become very thin and unat- and helps them maintain their herds.
tractive, hence fetch very low prices if at all they In Beitbridge, with livestock being their major
manage to get a market before death. fallback cushion against poverty, Venda, Suthu
and Shangani communities have adopted means
of sustaining their animals albeit with relatively
Community Leaders, Livestock limited success. In the Shangani-dominated east-
and the Climate Change Threat ern wards of Dite I, Dite II and Chipise, farmers
collect both wet and dry mopane, mutsingidzi and
In traditional Tonga culture in Binga District live- murabva leaves which they dip in salt solution
stock were meant for social status and pride in and give to cattle. Others mix dry leaves with
the community. However, because of continued molasses which they buy from Lutumba growth
livestock losses to incessant droughts, wild ani- point and feed their cattle.
mals and increasing incidences of hazards includ- In the Venda, dominated central wards of
ing diseases; some households are now selling Mtetengwe I, Mtetengwe II and Mtetengwe III,
their livestock to local butcheries, Hwange town where pastures are few and depleted due to cli-
and the City of Bulawayo. This has caused a shift mate change, natural cattle husbandry is barely
in attitude towards livestock and has compro- practised. Farmers would usually stockpile crop
mised traditional–customary values. Some farm- stover to feed their livestock during prolonged
ers now practise barter trading, exchanging dry periods. Some farmers now sell part of their
livestock for food within the district or with mer- herd to raise money to buy stock feed for their
chants (middlemen) from other districts in which cattle so that they survive drought Beitbridge
a goat can be exchanged for a 5  kg or 10  kg experienced drought periods in the seasons
bucket of maize grain depending on size and a 1982/1983, 1987/1988, 1991/1992, 1992/1993,
cow for 100 kg of maize. 1996/1997, 1997/1998, 2001/2002, 2002/2003,
Makuli are potato-like traditional wild roots 2004/2006, 2005/2006, 2011/2012 (GoZ-UNDP/
which Tonga communities never knew could be GEF 2011) as well as 2016/2017, 2017/2018,
food several decades ago but are now being eaten 2018/2019 and 2019/2020. Beitbridge is now
in the whole district during drought periods. more drought-prone than before.
During severe drought periods, families would Western wards of Machuchuta, Masera and
drastically cut down on meals, eating only one Maramani and north-western wards including
meal per day and only at night. Dendele, Siyoka I and Siyoka II experience rela-
In Bulilima district, in an effort to preserve tively fewer cattle deaths than other wards during
their livestock wealth, the Kalanga community drought periods are relatively lower. This is
has adopted the habit of sending their cattle to because during the fast-track land reform pro-
distant areas with more grass biomass which they gramme, as a coping strategy to counteract cli-
locally call imilaga (meaning their cattle will be mate change impacts, communities agreed to
renting pastures on host farms) for pasture during repossess land from former White commercial
the long dry season spells from early May to farmers. These farming communities, however,
early November. At these host farms, most of chose not to go and settle on those farms but
which belonged to former White commercial reserved them as grazing areas (miraga) for their
farmers, but now to local Black commercial cattle during drought periods. Communities of
farmers who took over the farms during the fast-­ Machuchuta, Masera and Maramani, for exam-
track land reform programme of year 2000, for ple, send their cattle to Shobi Block farm during
56 Climate Change Impact on Indigenous Minority Farmer Communities in Southwest Zimbabwe
drought periods. This explains why central and
eastern wards which chose to go and settle in
newly acquired farms record high figures of cat-
tle losses to drought. These areas do not have
typical miraga (natural pastures) for their cattle
in dire drought periods.
 limate Change and Views
C sources for both their livestock and domestic use
on Community Livestock
Sustenance
Reduction of livestock herds in the three dis-
tricts of Bulilima, Beitbridge and Binga is not
through selling. Farmers lose their livestock to
drought. This is because most farmers are con-
servative and rarely part with their cattle except
through death (usually to drought or traditional
rituals). They also sell cattle to cover an impor-
tant economic family need like fees, lobola or to
appease ancestral spirits. During spring seasons
(late August, September) of drought years, some
farmers source tree leaves and twigs to feed
their livestock while during summers they sup-
plement feed for their livestock by collecting
fruits for them from the wild. Preserving crop
residues as livestock winter feed is, however, no
longer as effective as it is used to be in the past,
it is only practical if seasons are normal or near-
normal, which is hardly the case in present
times.
Farm Residue: Feed for the Future
Common forms of farm residue in south-western
Zimbabwe districts are maize stalks, mealie cob
leftovers and groundnuts residue which is usually
seen in most homes. The paradox, however, is
that most times livestock will be frail and sickly
even during the time this stover will be prepared
for future use. Farmers will be adjudging it too
early to give the feed to their cattle in case the
situation worsens.
In Binga district, the major disruptions
brought by climate change to the Tonga commu-
nity in their subsistence farming life include
planting time which is no longer predictable and
harvesting time which is no longer certain.
Although they are the traditional stakeholders of
the mighty perennial Zambezi River which boasts
of the mighty Victoria Falls (Mosi-oa-Tunya) and
Lake Kariba which covers 517,998  km2 of
dammed water, the Tonga themselves are a hun-
gry and thirsty community. Water is a perennial
problem in the wards of Binga district. Water
are too far. Radio and television services are only
barely accessible in very few areas (BRDCSP
2010), and weather forecasts from these services
are unreliable and therefore not useful to their
farming activities. In most wards, however, farm-
ers solely dependent on intuition in their farming
activities since they receive no weather forecast
services at all.
In Bulilima District, planting time is no longer
predictable and harvesting time is no longer cer-
tain. This is worsened by the fact that most farm-
ers have no access to local weather forecasts
which in most cases are unreliable. Most wards,
except for Gwambe, Tjankwa, Figtree, Norwood
and Ndiweni which are close to Plumtree town
receive both radio and television broadcasting
services from neighbouring Botswana and South
Africa because the. Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation radio and television services do not
cover their areas.
Attempts by farmers to cope with climate
change in Beitbridge district are being hindered
by a number of constraints. Both planting time
and harvesting time are no longer predictable.
This is mainly because of the unpredictability
and unreliability of seasonal rainfall patterns. A
large section of the district, including places like
Lutumba and Chaswingo, is generally dry with
few rivers which run dry during the dry season.
Water sources are therefore very few and far from
homesteads. The national radio and television
broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation, covers only a small section of the
district, in and around Beitbridge town. The
larger area of the district, for example, Shashe,
Chaswingo, Masera and Maramani either do not
have this service or the signal is erratic and unre-
liable. Farmers, therefore, do not have access to
weather forecasts.
Community Leaders’ Perceptions of Climate Change Constraints
 eed as a Climate Change-Related
S its people, especially the youth to the innovative
Constraint for Minority Farmer
Communities
The Tonga are highly conservative community and
this is reflected even in their farming practices.
They are possibly the only community in
Zimbabwe still practising shifting cultivation
(chitemene) which they, however, confine to their
district. Staple crops for the Tonga include sor-
ghum and millet, whose seeds are traditionally
preserved in granaries from previous harvests for
replanting. Maize, the country’s major staple crop,
needs seasonal rainfall amounts between 600 and
800  mm and yet the district’s average seasonal
rainfall is between 400 and 600 mm. The district,
therefore, does not harvest much maize but if it
does, Tonga farmers prefer planting maize seeds
from their granary than buying from seed houses.
In Beitbridge, Venda, Suthu and Shangaani
minority farmer communities also still have con-
siderable faith in their traditional staples like sor-
ghum and millet. The household granary provides
most of the seeds grown, which are traditionally
treated and carefully stored for replanting. Maize
generally does not do well in Beitbridge district
because of erratic and unreliable rainfall. Farmers,
however, insist on planting maize despite low
yields because of its palatability which is more
than that of sorghum and millet. Most of the maize
seed is either bought or supplied by government
through its grain loan scheme where farmers are
given seeds and are expected to repay with maize
grain after harvesting. The loans are rarely repaid
because of persistent poor harvests.
In Bulilima district, Kalanga farmers use tra-
ditionally treated seeds preserved in their grana-
ries after harvest to plant in their fields. These
include traditional staples like sorghum, millet,
groundnuts and rapoko, which, however, is not
very popular because, it has higher moisture
requirements which the district does not have.
 ommunity Leaders’ Perceptions
C main reason why they are invading national
of Climate Change Constraints
As a peripheral minority district, Binga has less
access to modern facilities like information com-
munication technology (ICT) which could expose
57
dynamic outside world. It is a population of con-
servatives where the basis of household wealth
and livestock is owned by the very elderly who
usually interpret the outbreak of disease as pun-
ishment from the ancestors. Instead of treating
their livestock, they hold rituals to appease the
spirits.
Since the district is remote and “backward”
socio-economically, many non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) carry out their experiments
there. The district is a guinea pig, a testing ground
for many projects and programmes, most of
which have unproven results and are barely
sustainable.
Donors bring in food handouts instead of tap-
ping water from Lake Kariba which would bring
a permanent solution to the district’s incessant
water problems. NGOs should capacitate people
rather than make them dependents. They should
emulate the government’s food-for-work pro-
grammes which organises villagers into perma-
nent work groups locally called gombe or nhimbe.
Such work groups would then be assigned spe-
cific sustainable developmental tasks which ben-
efit communities rather than subject them to
NGO dependency which evaporates as soon as
the donor leaves the area.
Binga community lacks entrepreneurial skills,
most fishermen operating in the district are not
locals but people from various parts of the coun-
try including Harare. Although subjects like
Geography are taught at schools and help pupils
appreciate the importance of the environment,
the curriculum needs to be revisited to suit the
current climatic trend. Recent revisions to the
country’s curriculum have brought some hope to
the local community since the new curriculum
emphasises learner practical outcomes in all sub-
jects taught. This is likely to see an increase in the
innovation and entrepreneurial skills of the youth,
which may in turn reduce youth unemployment.
Local communities are realising very little
from the CAMPFIRE programme and this is the
parks. For example, Chizarira National Park has
been invaded by Sinasengwe, Nsenga and
Nabusenga communities, while people from
Tyunga ward have also settled in Chete safari
area. They do not see the many natural resources
58 Climate Change Impact on Indigenous Minority Farmer Communities in Southwest Zimbabwe
around them as being a part of them but as
belonging to communities from other regions of
the country since they reap no benefits from
them. They are actually sanctioned for using
them without a licence, in the case of fishing
from Lake Kariba.
In Beitbridge district, Siziba of Vuturura vil-
lage although monthly council-administered cat-
tle sales are a good idea which may help farmers
free themselves from the cycle of poverty, the
fact that council insists on farmers having tempo-
rary trading licences to conduct business at such
sales renders the endeavour futile. Farmers do not
get much income from the sales because their
livestock will generally frail and thin, yet goods
sold by traders from other regions will be expen-
sive. In the eastern wards of Dite I, Dite II and
Chipise, for example, a mature cow or bull may
fetch as little as US$90, not even enough to buy a
good quality goat.
In the western wards at Shashe and Toporo
farmers sell cattle and goats every month, but pri-
vate buyers cheat them by buying their livestock
at less than a dollar per kilogram which is unsus-
tainable. It would help if government would re-­
introduce the Cold Storage Company which pays
more sustainable prices for livestock purchases.
Although miraga reduces cattle mortalities,
farmers complain that they are expensive because
they have to pay a single head of cattle per every
10 herd of cattle. This is despite the fact that dur-
ing severe drought years, cattle die even at mira-
gas and yet miraga owners will insist on their
payment. During the severe drought of 2012, for
example, some families in Chaswingo lost up to
50 head of cattle at the muraga yakholomo
(cattle-­dominated resettlement areas). Cattle usu-
ally go to miraga between June and July when
pastures are completely depleted and watering
points have dried up.
In Bulilima District, climate change-induced
drought kills the community’s two most impor-
tant sources of draught power, cattle and don-
keys. Those that remain are usually too thin and
weak to till the land or perform any other form of
farm work. Farmers would therefore wait for
their livestock to recover before they can plough,
while the season continues to unfold and what-
ever moisture would have been received will go
to waste. By the time the cattle and donkey
recover, it would usually be too late to plant pro-
ductively since the rainy season has become
shorter. Recurrent poor harvests have pushed
many farmers off their land through seasonal dis-
couragement. They are now dependent mainly on
remittances from relatives in South Africa.
Water is Beitbridge District’s major constraint
in development. The water table is too low in the
district. An attempt by UNICEF to drill boreholes
at Ngotsha, Madlambuzi Centre and
Kandamhlope yielded no water even at a great
depth of 60  m. Farmers have no capital to start
alternative projects. HIV and AIDS is also
another big problem in the district as a significant
number of infected members have limited time
for other income-generation projects.
Fruits like mtshwankela, uxakuxaku and
umviyo which used to act as safety nets against
hunger and starvation have since become unreli-
able unlike in the1980s when people would eat
amancimbi (mopane worms) and drink water for
a meal.
 limate Change Constraints
C
and Minority Community Women
Despite all the time and effort invested in weav-
ing, women at Maramani Craft Centre in
Beitbridge district are not getting value for their
effort as they endeavour to cope with the changing
climate through craftwork. One broom, for exam-
ple, would cost two South African rands and yet
the buyer would sell the same broom at 20 rands
at bigger markets in Bulawayo, for example.
Buyers take advantage of the remote location of
these wards in relation to Beitbridge town centre.
Roads in rural Beitbridge are barely navigable.
In Chaswingo ward, feeding cattle with tree
leaves requires considerable amount of labour
which is in short supply in the district, given that
most young people migrate to South Africa. It
also requires scotch carts to transport the leaves
home. Families who do not own scotch carts usu-
ally suffer heavier losses of livestock during
drought periods. Feeding livestock with leaves,
Climate Change Constraints and Minority Community Women
however, is only a stopgap measure meant to
reduce livestock mortality. It does not prepare
them for the market nor is it sustainable if drought
periods persist beyond a year. Some commercial
farmers take advantage of the sickly cattle of
minority farmer communities which they buy
very cheaply, feed them and sell at very high
profits in places like Matengeni farm in Mwenezi
district.
Maize is not a traditional Venda, Suthu or
Shangani crop and hence these communities do
not have traditionally time-tested ways of maize
seed preservation as with sorghum and millet.
This explains why most of the seeds grown in
Beitbridge have to be bought or are supplied by
the Government. Though groundnuts require
significant rainfall amounts for favourable har-
vests, households in Beitbridge continue to
grow them because of their multiple uses as rel-
ish, relish enhancers or as body lotion. Farmers
prefer traditionally prepared and preserved seed
from the granary but may also supplement this
through buying firstly from other farmers or
from seed dealers.
In Binga district, the entire district needs water
and yet it is on the edge of the country’s largest
surface water body, Lake Kariba, which can eas-
ily be tapped to water and green the whole dis-
trict. After the drying of earth dams around
August, women from wards like Sikalenge fetch
water, bucket-on-head, some 10–15 km away in
59
Lake Kariba. During this period, commuter
omnibus and truck operators from Binga centre
experience brisk business, using their trailers to
fetch as much water and selling it at US$1 per
20 L bucket.
Communities like Simatelele ward which lie
close to Lake Kariba cannot venture into fish
farming easily because they cannot afford fishing
licences which cost US$35 per month. Fishing
without a licence attracts a punitive penalty of
US$50 on the spot and the offenders’ catch for
the day is confiscated. Most local fishermen fish
clandestinely in remote areas of the Zambezi
River for fear of the police and Campfire authori-
ties. As a result they attract very customers.
Commercial kapenta fishing using rigs (fishing
boats) is unimaginable for most local fishermen
because of the rig prohibitive price of US$14,000.
Kapenta fishing, is however, attractive because
average kapenta fish catch is 53 bags per month
which can be sold at US$150 each. High costs of
kapenta farming, however, mean that most com-
mercial fishermen along Lake Kariba in Binga
come from large towns and cities like Harare and
Bulawayo.
Farmers in all districts of Bulilima, Binga and
Beitbridge bemoaned the prevalence of cattle
rustlers who steal cattle, goats and sheep at night.
They target mainly female-headed households
where they know women would not go out for
fear of possible harm or even death.
 Interventions on Climate Change
Among Indigenous Farmer
Communities in South-West
Zimbabwe
 overnment Initiatives to Help
G lost large herds of cattle to drought. Through the
Farmers Cope with Climate Change
Government is involved in helping communities
in south-western Zimbabwe cope with climate
change and variability through its departments
which include Agricultural and Extension
Services (AGRITEX), Environmental
Management Agency (EMA), Livestock
Production and Development (LPD) and
Communal Areas Management Programme for
Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE).
In Bulilima, government initiatives to help the
Kalanga and San communities cope with climate
change and variability, including drilling of bore-
holes. Such development, however, only came
after peace had been restored following the sign-
ing of the historic political Unity Accord between
Patriotic Front–Zimbabwe African Peoples’
Union (PF-ZAPU) and Zimbabwe African
National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) in
1987. Boreholes were sunk in wards 3, 4, 9, 11,
12 and 15 from 1990 to 2013 and in 1990
Tjanyabane Dam was constructed for the com-
munity to ease water challenges mainly for wards
4, 7 and 15.
In Beitbridge district, government is always
playing a reactive approach to climate change
challenges. In 2012, the severe drought which hit
the district forced government to initiate a sup-
plementary feeding scheme for cattle. The assis-
tance, however, came after many households had
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Matsa, Climate Change and Agriculture in Zimbabwe, Sustainable Development Goals Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51346-7_6
Livestock Development Programme (LDP), gov-
ernment advises farmers to sell some of their
cattle in order to afford feed to serve others.
Government also provides inputs like maize, sor-
ghum and pearl millet seeds and fertilisers
through the Presidential inputs Scheme which is
carried out annually. There have been innuendos,
however, that such assistance is distributed on a
partisan basis and in favour of supporters of the
ruling political party. The authorities also give
drought relief food at subsidised prices to farm-
ers. Through the Agricultural Technical and
Extension Services (AGRITEX), government
educates farmers on helpful techniques to cope
with climate change, for example, they are
encouraged to practise dry planting to make max-
imum use of the early rains. During the 2012
drought, government availed 50 kg bags of “beef
survival” supplementary feeding for cattle at a
subsidised price of US$6.50 instead of US$14.
In Binga district, AGRITEX trains farmers on
conservation farming. It conducts field days and
establishes demonstration plots through exten-
sion workers in villages and wards. AGRITEX
also carries out workshops to promote small
grains which are more suitable for the district,
given its hot and dry climatic characteristics.
Farmers are however being confused by the sharp
rainfall variability from one season to the next
and as such some farmers still want to grow
maize ahead of other crops because small grains
61
62 Interventions on Climate Change Among Indigenous Farmer Communities in South-West Zimbabwe
do not have ready market. Farmers also despise
small grains because their processing involves
too many straining stages. Generally, sadza from
small grains is not as palatable as that from maize
grain. Small grains, like sorghum and pearl mil-
let, are consumed by quelia birds which lower
yields. While on the wet Zambezi Valley flood
plain, Tonga communities grew maize and other
crops on the valley’s fertile alluvial soils before
being forced to the current drier escarpment dur-
ing the construction of the Kariba Dam in the
1950s.
The Livestock Production Department (LPD)
promotes the rearing of different types of live-
stock which include cattle, donkeys, goats and
sheep. From a livestock-rearing perspective,
Binga district can be divided into two different
areas: southern part and northern part. Southern
Binga is cattle area because it has more pastures
and has fewer cattle diseases, while northern
Binga is goats’ area because it has acacia and
other thorn tree species preferred by goats. Cattle
do not do well in northern Binga because of
shortage of pastures, the mountainous terrain,
diseases and the prevalence of wildlife, including
crocodiles from the Kariba Dam.
Lungwalala Dam is one of the largest dams in
Matabeleland North Province. Its construction
was facilitated by government in 1992. The dam
supports a vibrant irrigation scheme in
Kariyangwe ward while Nabusenga Dam sup-
ports another irrigation scheme in the district.
Government is working on establishing another
irrigation scheme at Bulawayo kraal where crops
like maize, sorghum, potatoes will be grown.
Bulawayo kraal has fertile soils and is sparsely
populated and thus it is expected to accommodate
a number of farmers from the Binga community.
The scheme is expected to draw water from
Kariba Dam.
In Bulilima district, government departments,
the like Department of Livestock Development
and AGRITEX, move around teaching farmers
about better livestock rearing and sustainable
farming practices to counter climate change haz-
ards. AGRITEX holds meetings at ward level
with farmers and teaches them sustainable agri-
cultural techniques like ridging, potholing, con-
servation agriculture and winter planting.
Farmers are encouraged to stagger planting dates
so that if one crop fails, others may do well. They
also conscientise farmers on the importance of
small grain varieties like pole millet and encour-
age the use of organic manure which improves
the soil’s moisture-holding capacity and soil fer-
tility. On planting, farmers are also encouraged to
use the dead-level contour imported from Kenya
where it is called fanya-ju in which farmers dig
holes 5 m apart and 30 cm deep and plant. The
holes hold water a bit longer and this helps the
plant to grow since there will be maximum water
utilisation. Being a government department,
AGRITEX, however, lacks adequate resources to
implement all its programmes. Farmers, how-
ever, do not take farming as a business but have
become heavily reliant on remittances from
Botswana and South Africa.
All three districts of Bulilima, Binga and
Beitbridge have Communal Areas Management
Programme for Indigenous Resources
(CAMPFIRE) projects which can be very useful
in helping communities cope with climate change
and climate variability through giving hunting
quotas to professional hunters. CAMPFIRE is a
government-initiated strategy designed to help
rural communities manage their resources for the
development of their localities. It was initiated in
1986. CAMPFIRE programmes are run by local
authorities (Rural district councils) and are,
therefore, an arm of central government.
Climate change has, however, not spared
CAMPFIRE projects. In Binga, for example, the
district experiences persistent droughts and as a
result there is no longer tall grass. Wildlife com-
petes for the short stunted grass. Generally, wild-
life no longer looks as beautiful as before with
some animals “thin to the extent that one can
count their ribs”. Natural permanent water pans
where animals used to drink have since dried up
and animals now travel long distances to find
water. Some die along the way. In Beitbridge, all
CAMPFIRE projects in the district face the dan-
ger of being rendered unviable by hazards related
to climate change. The district is always hit by
drought and dries all surface water in rivers and
pools. Wildlife responds by migrating to wetter
Initiatives by NGOs to Help Farmers Cope with the Impacts of Climate Change
areas either in South Africa or Mozambique. This
results in reduced safari hunting and conse-
quently reduced dividends to communities.
In Bulilima district, the government provided
scotch carts, ploughs between 2008 and 2012 and
normally provides seeds for millet, sorghum and
maize. However, out of drought-induced frustra-
tion some beneficiaries would sell the inputs. The
elderly, the sick and the disabled are given free
handouts in all the wards. The physically fit are
sometimes asked to work for food items like
mealie meal, in food-for-work programmes
aimed at repairing roads, dams and dip tanks.
In Beitbridge district, through the construc-
tion of Zhove Dam, government has provided
communities with an alternative source of liveli-
hood through fish projects. They sell fish to as far
afield as Gwanda, Bulawayo and to middlemen
who sell along highways and in villages.
Binga Rural District Council has on its books
five CAMPFIRE projects which include
Siamuloba Campsite in Simatelele ward, Musiinji
Cultural Village in Pashu ward, Sinakoma
Elephant Dung Paper Making Project in
Sinakoma ward, Buvubi Leather Project in
Nakusenga ward and Banyama Mbibesu General
Dealer shop in Sinansenga ward. Beitbridge
Rural District Council owns three hunting con-
cessions, namely Beitbridge East, Beitbridge
West and Sentinel, all under CAMPFIRE.
Bulilima district runs a CAMPFIRE project in
Maitengwe ward.
I nitiatives by NGOs to Help Farmers
Cope with the Impacts of Climate
Change
NGOs have been active in Binga district since the
1990s. Projects like community gardens, bore-
hole drilling, chicken projects and cattle fattening
have been initiated by various non-governmental
organisations. Chicken, goats and cattle pass-on
projects have also been established in various
wards throughout the district. Save the Children,
for example, was also very active between 2000
and 2009, a decade characterised by drought,
poor and, sometimes, no harvests, famine and
63
serious food shortages even in shops. This was
mainly as a result of sanctions by Western coun-
tries in retaliation to the government’s fast-track
land reform programme which forcefully dispos-
sessed White farmers of “their” trademark large
tracts of fertile land and distributed it among
majority but landless Black farmers. Siachilaba
women fish market is another project where
women, funded by the Catholic Commission for
Justice and Peace (CCJP), engage in fish market-
ing. The women buy fish from fishing coopera-
tives on Lake Kariba and sell them to customers
as far afield as Hwange, Bulawayo, Gweru and
Masvingo.
Non-governmental organisations have helped
Bulilima communal farmers by constructing
small earth dams, drilling boreholes, initiating
community gardens and chicken projects. NGOs
also provide food packs and give cash to house-
holds. In the first decade of independence, NGOs
were not very active in the district.
In Beitbridge district, initiatives by NGOs to
help communities cope with climate change and
variability were non-existent between 1980 and
1999. In the decade 2000–2009, NGOs like LDS
and CARE International started building earth
dams to harness rainwater for communities. They
also introduced community gardens to help
reduce malnutrition and food insecurity LDS,
CEZVI, Red Cross and World Vision sunk bore-
holes in various wards across the district to
improve water access for both domestic use and
livestock watering. In an attempt to reduce deaths
of livestock due to drought and improve the value
of cattle for subsistence farmers, LDS introduced
cattle fattening. The programme only became
successful during the inception period, but farm-
ers could not sustain it after the NGO had left.
From 2010 to 2013, CARE and LDS contin-
ued to establish community gardens and earth
dam dams CARE, SAFIRE, EU and LED, in col-
laboration with government, initiated community
orchards at Shashe Irrigation Scheme. These
have started providing economic relief through
the selling of fruits to surrounding communities
and beyond.
CARE International is the most active NGO in
the central wards of Mtetengwe I, II and III. It has
64 Interventions on Climate Change Among Indigenous Farmer Communities in South-West Zimbabwe
helped villagers establish community gardens
and small irrigation schemes by providing fence,
poles and seed packs. Gardening is mainly done
by women who have organised themselves in
groups of 10. The NGO advises farmers on what
to grow in line with the dictates of local climate
variability. Farmers in these wards, however,
complained that though the NGO help farmers
cope with climate change through various proj-
ects, farmers do not see this as a permanent solu-
tion because NGOs stay in an area for just two or
three seasons and leaves resulting in the collapse
of initiated projects.
In the western wards of Machuchuta, Masera
and Maramani, CARE International, ICRISAT
and ORAP established sale pens for livestock and
advise farmers to sell their livestock when
drought is imminent. This helps farmers realise
fairly reasonable income from their livestock
before they become frail from lack of pasture,
browse and water. During drought years, CARE
International and World Food Programme pro-
vide food packs which include cooking oil, soya
beans, maize and samp to alleviate poverty and
starvation. At Shashe Irrigation Scheme, govern-
ment partnered SAFIRE and CEZVI to initiate
the growth of citrus, which covers 140  ha.
Farmers also grow wheat for their family needs
and sale. In ward 9, World Vision built three
small earth dams which have helped farmers ini-
tiate community gardens and also water their
livestock.
In Bulilima district, although NGOs are help-
ing the community through disaster risk reduc-
tion in agriculture, their activities concentrate
more on food handouts instead of helping com-
munities produce for themselves. This explains
the level of dependence in the district which has
resulted in some farmers giving up farming com-
pletely in anticipation of handouts and remit-
tances from relatives in South Africa and
Botswana. Food handouts are therefore not sus-
tainable but enslaves.
International Crop Research Institute for the
Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has been working
with more than 12 NGOs in south-western
Zimbabwe as a technical partner in introducing
conservation agriculture (precision agriculture).
It helps to introduce demonstration plots, training
farmers and producing and distributing pam-
phlets and brochures. The organisation also
worked on a programme to feed off crop and live-
stock systems, that is, where fodder crops like
mucuna have been tried with success in Gwanda
and Nkayi districts of south-western Zimbabwe.
ICRISAT has a gene bank for all crops in
Southern Africa. Most varieties developed by
the organisation have some traits of drought-
tolerant characteristics. It has also done a lot of
breeding of these crops. Millet varieties, like
Mercia SV2, SV4 and many others, were devel-
oped by the organisation to suite the dry condi-
tions of south-­ western Zimbabwe, but few
farmers grow these breeds because of issues
related to production and processing. ICRISAT
has however developed a processing grinding
mill for small grains like millet and sorghum
which can be used by communities to reduce
the labour burden. Most communal farmers,
however, do not afford the new technology.
These efforts, however, did not benefit minority
farmer communities in Beitbridge, Bulilima
and Binga because the organisation does not
have projects or programmes specifically for
minority farmer communities. The political and
economic situation in Zimbabwe in the past
20 years has not permitted ICRISAT to promote
its innovations and roll them out to remote parts
which incidentally are home to minority
communities.
 Indigenous Minority Farmer
Communities Development Basket
of Priorities in South-West
Zimbabwe

The years 1990–1995, 1997–1998, 2001–2007,

 ulilima Farming Communities
B 2017–2019 have been described as some of the
and Climate Change warmest years in Zimbabwe and have resulted in
a massive drop in yields which greatly affected
Evidence from Bulilima communities’ historical the southern-western districts of the country.
timelines confirms that climate change has had Drying of rivers, streams and wetlands means
significant negative impact on these communi- that traditional household gardens have disap-
ties. The biggest threat of the change is dimin- peared. These were important safety nets which
ished rainfall for agriculture, water availability provided communities with vitamins throughout
for domestic use and livestock. BaKalanga are the year. Households could also sell vegetables to
agro-pastoralists whose wealth is heavily invested raise income for other important daily needs.
in cattle, goats, sheep and donkeys. They also Fish, an important source of protein, which they
grow some maize, sorghum, millet and rapoko. obtained from rivers and streams have also disap-
The changing climate has negatively affected peared from their diet. All this point to increas-
these economic activities and livelihood of com- ingly unhealthy communities.
munities. Changing seasons have confused farm- Bulilima is characterised by two extreme
ers’ times of planting, and indigenous farmers weather events; droughts and floods, both of
have lost their farming rhythm. Traditional cli- which are detrimental to the district’s agro-­
mate knowledge and experience direct farmers to pastoral economy. It is drought, however, which is
plant in November in anticipation of rain in the more frequent with consequences that are more
same month, yet rains may only start to fall mid-­ disastrous for small-scale farmers. Recurrent
December, or it may not fall at all. The climate drought continuously accounts for cattle deaths.
change office in Zimbabwe concedes that the This has threatened household livelihood in many
onset of seasons has shifted and there is confu- ways. Recovery rate for these farmers is even
sion among farmers as each year they either more difficult. Draught power is lost and this has
experience too much rain or drought (Zhakata repercussions on crop production because tillage
2008). Many farmers have given up crop farming is delayed or fails to take place at all. Household
because of such uncertainty which they have food insecurity is exacerbated. Loss of livestock
been grappling with over the years. Giving up on also means more school drop-outs since commu-
crop farming has forced families into poverty nities generally sell livestock to send their chil-
even during years of good rains because they dren to school. Despite having large heads of
have lost faith in the behaviour of the weather. livestock, on average, annual sales per household

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 65

M. Matsa, Climate Change and Agriculture in Zimbabwe, Sustainable Development Goals Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51346-7_7
66 Indigenous Minority Farmer Communities Development Basket of Priorities in South-West Zimbabwe
amount to 5 head of cattle, 10 goats and 5 sheep,
respectively, per year (BRDCSP 2010; Brazier
2017). This relatively small off-take relative to the
size of the herds means that farmers are engaged
in livestock farming not as a commercial enter-
prise but for subsistence purposes and as a store of
value. Most of these die from starvation during
drought years with no benefit to the farmers.
There are demographic, social and cultural
changes that are attributable to climate change in
Bulilima district. Whilst some changes in cultural
practices are associated with external factors,
there are community-based changes due to cli-
mate changes. There is no longer strict sexual
division of labour in the district as both men and
women now mingle in carrying out different
household chores like ploughing using donkeys
and cattle (traditionally men’s task) and weeding
(traditionally women’s task). Draught power has
been reduced due to drought-related deaths of
livestock. As a result of this, both sexes now use
manual labour in ploughing, digging seed holes
on large pieces of land and weeding. They also
harvest mopane worms together, an activity
which was exclusively for women. Persistent
drought has pushed most economically active
men to South Africa and Botswana in search of
greener pastures. As a result, women have taken
over most male roles. Women now thatch huts at
their homes, herd cattle, fell logs, fence their
homes and fields, activities which traditionally
used to be male domains. Bulilima girls never
used to go to South Africa or Botswana to look
for jobs but grew up at home in readiness for
marriage. Today, because of reduced households’
assets attributable to climate change related to
drought and persistent poor harvests, it has
become fashionable for boys and girls, men and
women to migrate to these two neighbouring
countries in search of better fortune. Because
most families are geographically separated, pro-
miscuity is common in the district as there are
fewer men than women. Marriage systems have
broken down as a result. There is more casual sex
and less bonding in marriage.
Collection and eating of wild fruits at house-
hold level used to be an important strategy for
coping with problems associated with the chang-
ing climate in Bulilima district. The fact that fruit
trees now hardly bear fruit leaves communities
with limited options. There also seems to be a
strong relationship between population density
and environmental changes related to climate
change. For example, Makhulela and Bambadzi
wards still have resources like wild fruits, wild
animals and amacimbi in relative abundance
compared to other wards. This is partly because
these wards are mainly habited by the highly con-
servative San communities who are few and less
exposed to technology. Those communities cause
less environmental damage.
Traditional art and craft activities like bas-
ketry weaving and carpentry which have stopped
due to unavailability of raw materials have led to
a reduction in family income options. Poor pas-
tures due to droughts have also led to insignifi-
cantly low milk yields which translate to poor
household nutrition. All this, coupled with a sig-
nificant reduction in mopane worms (amacimbi),
has led to less barter trade and limited access to
commodities like sugar, soap and mealie meal.
Sending cattle to remote dry season feeding
areas (emilageni) remains an important strategy
for the farmers to save their livestock, especially
cattle from sure death during drought years. For
each ten head of cattle sent to emilageni, they
have to give one beast to the custodians of these
milaga as a token of appreciation. This is not sus-
tainable as cattle now die even in these areas, yet
the farmers are still expected to pay. Donkeys are,
however, not sent to imilaga because they are
needed more often for transport in the home.
They thus succumb more often to drought-related
starvation. Goats are more resilient to drought
because they can survive on very little feed, even
the few leaves which shoot out in spring during
drought periods. They are usually a more depend-
able household form of investment, which helps
households recover from devastating droughts
and poor harvests in the short term.
Absence of national radio and television air-
waves in Bulilima makes the district even more
vulnerable to climate problems. It is a serious
constraint. In the absence of reliable weather
forecasts, Kalanga farmers are left at the mercy
of weather and climatic vicissitudes because they
Bulilima Farming Communities and Climate Change
do not have an informed base on what to expect
at a particular time of the year. This situation is
worsened by traditional indigenous climatic and
environmental indicators which are no longer
dependable.
Zimbabwe is divided into five agro-climatic
regions mainly according to rainfall and tempera-
ture distribution. Bulilima district falls in Region
5, the hottest and driest. This is not a maize region
except under irrigation. Maize requires between
600 and 800 mm of rainfall to do well and yet the
district receives an annual mean of less than
400 mm. It is, therefore, a cause for concern that
maize is grown as a main crop in a region which
does not have a competitive advantage in terms of
climatic attributes. Farmers continue to grow
maize because it is the national staple crop. They
always have the misplaced hope of getting a
favourable harvest 1 day. In its assistance to farm-
ers, Government seems to promote maize grow-
ing by supplying mainly maize seeds instead of
drought-tolerant crops like sorghum, millet and
rapoko which give comparatively better harvests.
Bulilima’s biggest problem is portable water
for domestic use, for agriculture and livestock.
Government acknowledges that climate change is
a problem. This is evidenced by the creation of a
Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate.
However, Bulilima Rural District Council
Strategic Plan (2012–2016) makes no reference
to climate change as a key obstacle to develop-
ment. This means the district could be “develop-
ing” blindly or from an uninformed perspective.
Education is not valued much in the district.
Children do not devout their time and effort much
to education. They view school as a place to just
grow old enough (usually to between 14 and
18  years) before following their siblings’ foot-
steps to Botswana or South Africa. Their elder
brothers and sisters who have crossed into these
neighbouring countries are their inspiration. The
youth, therefore, do not seek local solutions to
local problems but think solutions are beyond the
country’s borders. This outward-looking mental-
ity needs to be addressed if the district’s chal-
lenges are to be addressed meaningfully and
sustainably.
67
River and dam siltation in the district is
because of a general lack of proper dam conser-
vation development and stream bank cultivation
which have been taking place for many years as
communities tried to cope with the retreating
water table, resulting from climate change–
induced droughts. There is a dire need for recla-
mation of most dams and rivers through dredging
and tree planting in catchment areas of major
drainage systems.
Government‘s comparatively fewer initiatives
to counter climate change–related problems in
the district can be traced in history since indepen-
dence in 1980. Zimbabwe registered accelerated
development in infrastructure, education and
social welfare in general in the first decade of
independence, 1980–1990. During this period,
however, Bulilima district and the rest of south-­
western districts were grappling the war of insur-
gency which became commonly known as
Gukurahundi in the main Shona language.
Bulilima, therefore, did not benefit from this
independence-inspired socio-economic boom. It
was only when the Unity Accord to end this war
was signed on 22 December 1987 that develop-
ment started in earnest in the district. Between
2000 and 2009, the country experienced an
unprecedented economic meltdown which halted
all forms of development. From 2000 to 2015,
central government was still struggling to recover
from the almost total economic collapse of the
previous decade caused by the Economic
Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP).
Marginal districts like Bulilima could only wait
for total economic recovery for them to receive
anything from the national cake. For these rea-
sons, government initiatives are often regarded as
unsustainable by communities in the district.
The fact that most local options to cushion
communities against climate change and climate
variability are no longer viable is one reason why
NGOs are glorified in Bulilima district. NGOs
provide communities with free food and money.
They drill boreholes and initiate projects like
community gardens for them. Such activities
have an immediate impact on hungry and thirsty
communities. Experience with NGOs in various
parts of the country, however, has shown that,
68 Indigenous Minority Farmer Communities Development Basket of Priorities in South-West Zimbabwe
NGOs-initiated development is “bubblegum
development” which is only viable for as long as
the project is still under the stewardship of the
NGO. Once the NGO leaves, the project starts to
make a downward spiral to total collapse. A sus-
tained food handout only makes a community
more dependable and easy to manipulate. If a
benefactor NGO has political inclinations or
preferences (as is almost always the case), it can
sow seeds of disunity, despondency and political
unrest. This is the reason why government must
take a leading and impartial role in addressing
problems which affect all communities in the
country, in this case, climate-change-related
problems.
 inga Farming Communities
B Faced with the threat of climate change which
and Climate Change
The Tonga are a conservative minority commu-
nity with limited interaction with the rest of
Zimbabwe. For generations, they have relied on
the natural ecosystem and its biodiversity for
food, shelter and medicine (Zhou 1997). They
have managed to raise reasonable herds of cattle
and flocks of sheep and goats in their environ-
ment since being relocated from the Zambezi
valley to make way for the construction of the
Kariba Dam across the Zambezi River. The
Tonga have been managing to produce, prepare
and conserve their traditional seeds for cropping
over the years. They have also managed to pro-
cess and conserve their crops after harvest using
traditional Tonga knowledge. They have done
the same with natural fruits and game meat
which they could eat while fresh or expertly
dried using traditional means. The soil was
moist enough to sustain crops, wild fruit trees
and pastures. Forests were thick and large
enough to accommodate whole communities
despite the fact that Tonga communities prac-
tised shifting cultivation, which is reminiscent
of the Zambian Chitemene type of farming. The
changing climate, however, seems to have sig-
nificantly changed Tonga way of life. Rainfall
has become more variable, temperatures are
hotter and the environment poorer.
Depleting environmental resources due to
changing climatic conditions have made the
Tonga community more desperate, leaving them
with few options. Climate change has affected
mostly water resources which have deteriorated
considerably as evidenced by drying rivers and
streams, shrinking wetlands, disappearing pools
along rivers and lowering the water table. Since
most of the survival strategies of the Tonga are
based on the environment, climate-change-­
induced biodiversity loss has impacted Tonga
way of life as some crops, vegetables and fruits
are no longer available or are only periodically
available. This impacts their livelihoods and,
consequently, indigenous knowledge systems
through resource loss (GoZ-UNDP/GEF 2011;
Brazier 2017).
constantly erodes the community’s potential to
fend for itself, it may be plausible for government
to have the Tonga community benefitting more
directly from resources in their district. The
development state theory proposes national
development from within but under the guidance
of the state which itself should be nationalistic in
character (Teik 2010). Since the year 2000, and
starting with the fast-track land reform and reset-
tlement programme, the Zimbabwean govern-
ment has promulgated policies which it argues
are pro-poor. Such an approach may be an oppor-
tunity for climate change–threatened minority
farmer communities to benefit.
In good years, indigenous knowledge systems
are very useful but climate variability renders
indigenous-based initiatives to cope with climate
change unsustainable. Degrading environmental
resources in the form of depleting water resources,
drying rivers, diminishing pastures and degrad-
ing forests all result in reduction of biodiversity
which negatively impacts indigenous knowledge.
Biodiversity is one of the pillars of indigenous
knowledge since local ecosystems provide most
of the substances, materials and bases for local
knowledge.
Despite climate change, Binga district is
richly endowed with natural resources which are,
however, managed by central government
through its various departments. Binga has the
Binga Farming Communities and Climate Change
country’s largest freshwater lake in Lake Kariba
and one of Africa’s longest rivers, Zambezi,
which apart from being havens for different types
of fish, are also important tourist attractions both
locally and internationally. Chizarira and Mzola
forests have a lot of wildlife. These resources are
critical safety nets to cushion Tonga communities
against climate change if government could allow
communities access, for example, in the form of
community share ownership trusts, where any
investor in the district would cede 10% of their
profit to the community in appreciation of com-
munities’ custodianship of resources in their
areas. In a district so endowed with water, going
for 7–12  km in search of water, as most Tonga
women do, only makes these communities hate-
ful of government. Boasting of both the country’s
largest lake and the largest river, it is paradoxical
that Binga has the thirstiest people.
The traditional slash–burn–dig and sow tech-
nique of farming used by many Tonga house-
holds is not environmentally friendly in this age
of climate change. Unabated destruction of for-
ests induces climate change, for example, by
reducing the rate of evapotranspiration, causing a
reduction in precipitation amounts. It also accel-
erates the rate of erosion, speeds runoff and
increases the rate of sedimentation of rivers
(Griffiths 2009). Deforestation reduces the capac-
ity of local ecosystems which support indigenous
knowledge systems.
The vulnerability of local communities is man-
ifest in some households which have resorted to
having two homes, one (usually illegal) closer to
the Zambezi River for water and fish, and another
in the drier but legal part of the district. Also, as a
solution to the impacts of climate change in their
district, women seasonally go to the adjacent but
wetter Gokwe district for maricho (working for
food and other household provisions in other
farmers’ fields). These solutions, however, are
only piecemeal. Two homes make families poorer
and more subsistence because of divided attention
with few resources. Some of the women who go
for seasonal work in Gokwe remarry there and
their husbands also remarry while they are away.
Such family break-up exacerbates poverty and
vulnerability to climate change.
69
While selling livestock to butchers and barter
trading livestock for food give households some
economic respite, such trading is always in favour
of the buyers who fleece off farmers. This is
because communities are always more desperate,
for example, a mature goat can be exchanged for
a 5 kg bucket of maize grain and a mature cow or
ox for 100  kg of grain. Climate change thus
eroded the confidence of minority communities,
making them occasional or chance farmers
depending on the performance of climate vari-
ables, mainly rainfall, during each farming sea-
son. The fact that both radio and television signals
are barely accessible makes farmers rely on
guesswork and intuition in their farming activi-
ties, usually with discouraging results.
Although the Tonga are highly conservative,
preferring to plant seeds from their granaries, in
recent decades they have been exhausting these
before the onset of the rains. This has resulted in
losses of their traditional germplasm which trans-
lates to loss of their indigenous knowledge sys-
tems and an erosion of one of their major cultural
traits.
As a fallback measure, communities resort to
fishing mainly from Lake Kariba. For them to
fish legally, however, they have to raise and pay
35 United States dollars per month to the depart-
ment of Parks and Wildlife Authority or be fined
50 dollars on the spot if found fishing or selling
fish without a license. Since they cannot raise
such amounts easily, they resort to fishing in
secluded places where there are no markets.
In the 1980s and 1990s, climate change effects
were not yet very chronic and the country’s econ-
omy was generally performing well. CAMPFIRE
projects were well-managed and communities
were benefiting from them. Tonga communities
responded positively to these local resources man-
agement initiatives by being supportive of wildlife
management. However, the 2000–2009 national
economic meltdown rendered all CAMPFIRE ini-
tiatives dysfunctional and communities no longer
see any benefit in conserving wildlife (BRDC
2011). This is the reason why they invaded
Chizarira National Park and Chete Safari Area.
Although both AGRITEX and LDP are pres-
ent in Binga district, they are not tackling the cli-
70 Indigenous Minority Farmer Communities Development Basket of Priorities in South-West Zimbabwe
mate change threat head-on. Characteristic of
other government departments in the country,
they hold workshops to promote small grains or
the rearing of different livestock types but never
practically emphasise these initiatives. As a
result, nothing takes place on the ground beyond
workshops. Resource limitation is a major handi-
cap for government departments. Besides, cli-
mate change is not a key target of government
development initiatives in the district. There is no
explicit reference to the climate change threat in
the district’s development plans and yet the dis-
trict’s sustainability hinges precariously on cli-
mate change tenterhooks. This is a reflection of
national policy failure at grassroots level. Its only
communities which are around irrigation
schemes, like Lungwalala, are food secure.
While NGOs are noble and bring some nutri-
tional and welfare respite to communities through
projects like community gardens, borehole drill-
ing, chicken projects and cattle fattening, these
usually function while the benefactors and funder
organisations are still present. They, however,
fold soon after the respective NGOs have left
(Khan 2010; Rungmanee and Cruz 2005).
Communities always struggle to adjust to the
NGO-initiated culture of dependency. NGOs,
however, remain popular with communities
because they bring well-funded projects which
are intensive, bring quick results and alleviate
community suffering starting at household level.
By contrast, while the government may help
build a dam, it sometimes fails to proceed to start
community gardens or fishing projects.
 eitbridge Farming Communities
B dryland farming because of persistent droughts.
and Climate Change
In Beitbridge district, climate change is causing
failed agricultural produce and reduced yields.
These result from climate extremes like droughts,
strong winds and floods which also destroy infra-
structure like homes, bridges and schools. They
also kill people and livestock. Many irrigation
schemes in the district are not functional because
of the 2000 and 2003 destruction by cyclones
Eline and Japhet, respectively. This has nega-
tively impacted households’ livelihoods. Climate-­
dependent environmental endowments like the
mopane worm (amacimbi), a southern-western
districts delicacy harvested from mopane trees,
has become vulnerable because of climate vari-
ability. Mopane worms are an important source
of livelihood in Beitbridge district. They are
eaten in the household as relish or as a stand-­
alone meal in difficult times. They are also brisk
business when sold in villages, along roadsides,
at rural service centres or in towns as communi-
ties source income to cushion themselves against
poverty. Another traditionally important house-
hold cushion against hunger and starvation, ama-
rula juice, is now only episodically produced as
the fruit is also succumbing to climate change.
Youths in Beitbridge no longer place their hope
on their environment but on neighbouring South
Africa. With their drift to South Africa, the youths
miss out on cultural initiation which would other-
wise equip them with their indigenous knowl-
edge. This points to an imminent erosion of rich
cultural values of the Venda, Suthu and Shangani
communities.
Climate change is forcing communities to
gradually lose confidence and trust in their
generations-­old indigenous knowledge systems
of farming because of erratic rains which lead to
reduced agro-ecological yields. Community trust
and confidence on indigenous knowledge sys-
tems to support food security have now been
eroded. Traditional food preparation and preser-
vation are no longer systematic. This leads to loss
of these skills by the new generation who tradi-
tionally would carry such indigenous knowledge
to posterity. Some farmers have since abandoned
Others have resorted to NGO- sponsored com-
munity gardening projects, for example, in
Lutumba and Maramani wards. Given the uncer-
tainty of such gardening projects, which usually
collapse at the departure of benefactor NGOs,
reliance solely on gardens drives households into
deeper poverty.
Beitbridge is a livestock district and for most
households, livestock is a store of wealth. Climate
change–induced extreme weather like droughts
and floods kill many animals (Matsa and
Beitbridge Farming Communities and Climate Change
Dzawanda 2014). Farmers therefore sell their
livestock for very little to people from districts
with better pastures. Most of the money that com-
munities get from their livestock is used to buy
items and goods from cross-border traders and
traders from other districts. This means that even
with the large herds of livestock, which can turn
them into viable commercial livestock producers,
minority community farmers remain poor subsis-
tence livestock herders.
A viable indigenous coping strategy to climate
change is, however, manifest in Maramani ward
between Shashe and Limpopo Rivers. Both men
and women hand-make hats, mats, brooms at
Maramani ilala Project Craft Centre using the
locally available ilala plant which they harvest
from wetlands and river banks. They sell their
products locally, in towns and even across the
border in South Africa. The remote location of
both the ward and craft centre, however, nega-
tively affects this local initiative. Clients from
outside the ward are few and those who endure
the rough drive to the craft centre negotiate for
very uneconomical bargains to the weavers.
Maramani Ilala project is, however, an example
of how communities can use their indigenous
knowledge, raw materials from their immediate
environment and their skills to cushion them-
selves against climate change impacts. Largely
because of the Maramani Ilala project, climate
change effects in Maramani ward are not very
dire.
Western wards of Masera, Machuchuta and
Maramani, which are rich in wildlife also, have
the potential to counter detrimental climate
change impacts through CAMPFIRE projects.
Wildlife is a promising resource which, if well
exploited, can boost tourism in a revamped
CAMPFIRE programme. CAMPFIRE proceeds
are meant to benefit these wards in infrastructural
development like roads, schools, clinics and
bridges are currently inadequate. Communities
no longer see any value in conserving wildlife.
Some have resorted to poaching in wildlife con-
servation areas.
These wards are comparatively wetter and
sustain more herds of livestock. The tragedy,
however, is that they are isolated and have poor
71
roads. This results in poor markets for livestock.
Although Beitbridge Rural District Council con-
ducts cattle sales at selected “central” points
within the district, these points are in reality not
central for most of the minority farmers in remote
parts of the district. The selling points are located
close to highways to attract buyers from towns
and cities. Besides council-conducted cattle sales
being a noble idea, council insists on farmers to
have temporary cattle-trading licenses to conduct
business. Most farmers cannot afford the licence.
Moreover, most of their cattle will be in bad
shape and do not give high returns. To raise
money for a council license and household needs,
farmers are forced to sell many herd of cattle and
at very low prices. In the eastern wards of Dite 1,
Dite 2 and Chipise, for example, a mature cow or
bull can sell for only US$90. In drought years,
government, through the Livestock Development
Programme (LDP) advises farmers to sell their
livestock and not risk all of them being wiped out
by drought. Minority communities, therefore,
have two hard choices for their livestock in
drought years, either they sell them very cheaply
to people from other districts for fattening and
profit-making or they watch them die miserably.
Even for the environmentally endowed west-
ern wards, opportunities offered by government
in the face of climate change are no longer
enough to retain youths. This is because of the
strong South African rand pull factor in the more
affluent South African cities and farms. The sus-
tainability of indigenous knowledge and local
resources as cushions against climate change
therefore remains threatened.
Pastures are generally a big problem in
Beitbridge district, more so in the Venda-­
dominated central wards of Mtetengwe 1–3 and
Eastern Shangani-dominated wards. Although
these wards benefitted from the fast-track land
reform and resettlement programme, beneficia-
ries preferred to go and settle in the newly
acquired areas. This led to quick environmental
depletion due to large herds of livestock, clearing
of large areas for settlement both of which were
not complemented by climate variables, espe-
cially rainfall. Some of the resettled areas had
over the years been used as miraga (winter graz-
72 Indigenous Minority Farmer Communities Development Basket of Priorities in South-West Zimbabwe

ing areas) by these minority farmers. The perma- hold through, for example, providing food, initi-
nent occupation of such areas, therefore, deprived ating and funding community gardens, paying
farmers of fallback options for their livestock in fees for school children, fattening cattle during
times of drought. Consequently, eastern and cen- drought periods. NGOs, however, usually do not
tral wards lose high numbers of livestock to cli- stay in any ward or district for long. They gener-
mate change–related factors. ally leave after the supposed summer harvest
By comparison, Suthu-dominated north-­ (even if some households do not harvest any-
western wards of Dendele, Siyoka 1 and 2 and thing). NGOs usually leave before communities
western wards of Machuchuta, Masera and have mustered the art of self-sufficiency in the
Maramani, livestock deaths are not as devastat- efficient management of projects. As a result of
ing. In these areas, instead of occupying the this pseudo-empowerment, communities fail to
farms they got from the fast-track land reform sustain themselves.
and resettlement programme, communities were
prudent enough to reserve most of the farms as
miraga for their cattle. For example, Maramani, Minority Communities and Climate
Masera and Machuchuta communities send their Change Policy in Zimbabwe
cattle to Shobi Block farm which is their winter-­
grazing area. Despite the threat of climate change to the
While miragas are generally a viable solution Zimbabwean economy, particularly minority
to reduce cattle deaths, they come at a cost to farmer communities of the south-western dis-
farmers. For every ten herd of cattle, farmers are tricts who are at the knife edge of this change; the
obliged to part with one beast as payment to the country’s climate policy, launched in 2017, does
custodians of respective grazing areas. Besides, not address climate issues head-on for minority
at these grazing areas, cattle are not always safe. farmer communities. The policy has a general
Cattle rustlers are a problem in the district, with outlook and seeks to tackle climate change issues
some families losing as many as 50 head of cattle at a national scale. This study, however, argues
to them at miraga yakholomo (winter cattle-­ that the National Climate Policy must of neces-
grazing areas) in one season alone. sity put emphasis on remote peripheral farmer
Minority Venda, Suthu and Shangani commu- communities who have suffered and continue to
nities in Beitbridge rely on their traditional sor- suffer the most from climate change hazards,
ghum and millet varieties as their staple crops. shocks and stressors. It is important for govern-
They prepare and treat these seeds and store them ment to realise that a climate change policy is in
in their traditional granaries for replanting. itself a form of mitigation, more so if it is main-
Instead of helping communities improve these streamed into existing and new development
local grain varieties through research, govern- policies. This is crucial for an agro-economy like
ment seems determined to change these commu- that of Zimbabwe whose majority population is
nities’ traditional tastes by promoting maize as directly dependent on the climate change–threat-
an alternative to these small grains. Government ened environment.
provides maize seed loans which farmers rarely Like most developing countries with peasant
pay back because of poor harvests caused mainly rural agrarian economies, Zimbabwe does not
by reduced soil moisture content resulting from only need a good climate policy, it also needs a
the changing climate. Government is, therefore, development paradigm which gives communities
defeating the intentions of the developmental a voice, which respects these communities’
state theory which seeks to promote indigenous development priorities, culture and indigenous
initiatives to development. knowledge. Such a paradigm would need to be
Like in Binga district, NGOs are popular in nationalistic in character, valuing communities’
Beitbridge. This is because they attend to the environments, ecosystems and the biodiversity
immediate and most pressing needs of the house- within them. The developmental state theory
Climate Change and Minority Communities’ Development Basket of Priorities
(Johnson 1982; Leftwich 2000) can be the cor-
nerstone of such a community development ini-
tiative. Development, however, must not only be
perceived as being based on industrial capacity
and diversity which most developing countries
like Zimbabwe cannot be expected to achieve in
the short-to-medium term. Development can and
should also start at the base of society, with the
poorest rural communities where poverty is
entrenched, and where climate change is hitting
hardest. Minority farmer communities need state
protection for their resources, for their indige-
nous knowledge systems, and their innovations.
Such state protection should, however, not dis-
possess or manipulate them but calls for dialogue
with them to identify their needs, ask them what
assistance they need and how they think such
assistance would empower them. Government
should then capacitate these communities under
the framework of community indigenous knowl-
edge and experiences of coping with climate
change over the years.
A fairly good example to learn from is the
CAMPFIRE programme, which was established
under state surveillance and facilitation in 1987.
Under this programme, poor but resource-rich
communities registered some remarkable devel-
opment. Climate change inflicted but wildlife-
rich communities like Chiredzi, Hurungwe,
Mahenye and Nyaminyami significantly benefit-
ted in both infrastructural and household terms.
Like any other programme in Zimbabwe, how-
ever, CAMPFIRE suffered from the country’s
hyper-inflationary period of 2000–2009.
Minority farmer community areas of Binga,
Bulilima and Beitbridge are environmentally
endowed with varied resources. If these areas
were in any developed country, they would not
qualify to be referred to as poor. Binga has the
Zambezi River, Lake Kariba and several National
parks and Safari areas. Beitbridge is part of the
wildlife-rich Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park
which it shares with Kruger National Park (South
Africa) and Gaza National Park (Mozambique).
It also has Mapungubwe Transfrontier Park,
another richly endowed wildlife sanctuary to the
west which it shares with both South Africa and
Botswana. Wildlife can cushion minority farmer
73
communities against climate change through via-
ble CAMPFIRE projects and tourism. Apart from
fertile soils, Beitbridge also has three large rivers:
Limpopo, Shashe and Runde which can sustain
viable irrigation schemes if expertly put to use.
Bulilima district, which borders to the west
with Hwange National Park, also has a rich
wildlife heritage. Bulilima’s largest rivers,
Tekwane and Manzamnyama, can also be
exploited for irrigation through damming. All
three districts are natural livestock regions
which include large herds of cattle and flocks
of sheep and goats. Through government assis-
tance, these resources could be exploited for
the direct benefit of minority farmer communi-
ties and alleviate their climate change–inflicted
suffering.
Zimbabwe’s development blueprint, the
Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-­
Economic Transformation (ZimAsset) (2013–
2018) sought to achieve sustainable development
and social equity based on indigenisation,
empowerment and employment creation. It con-
ceded that this development will be powered by
the exploitation of local resources. While the
intentions of ZimAsset were noble, its imple-
mentation seemed to have been blind to the fact
that more than 70% of Zimbabwe’s population
live in rural areas and are poor, and that minority
farmer communities are among the most vulner-
able by virtue of their geographical location in
the country’s most marginal areas. While the
ZimAsset document acknowledged that agricul-
tural sector performance is seriously being
affected by “prolonged periods of drought caused
by climate change”, it failed to reach out to
minority farmer communities whose vulnerabil-
ity is most worrisome.
 limate Change and Minority
C
Communities’ Development Basket
of Priorities
Communities in south-western Zimbabwe realise
that they have no capacity to mitigate climate
change impacts. They also realise that the eco-
logical environment, which has been their trusted
74 Indigenous Minority Farmer Communities Development Basket of Priorities in South-West Zimbabwe

source of livelihood, is under threat from the
changing climate. A viable approach to helping
these communities cope with climate change
impacts would be to examine what these commu-
nities identify as their development basket of pri-
orities. The first step would include identification
of their immediate needs at household level
which is where climate change impacts are usu-
ally experienced and felt hardest. At this level,
communities in south-western Zimbabwe needs
food for themselves and pastures for their cattle.
They also need their domestic pillars of wealth
like cattle, goats, sheep and chickens. They want
to preserve their indigenous varieties of drought-­
tolerant crops like millet and sorghum (Fig. 1).
Water is a key driver of household economies
in the sub-region yet it is a seriously inadequate
resource. These communities have traditionally
settled along rivers, streams and close to wet-
lands which provide water for their small house-
hold gardens. An identification of household
needs would thus help inform both government
and NGOs about which developmental infra-
structure each community requires to support
household needs and aspirations.
Since water is the lifeline of south-western
districts, dams, boreholes and irrigation schemes
should take precedence. Communities would,
however, also require good roads, schools and
clinics as support infrastructure for their house-
hold needs. For informed farming activities, radio
and/or television weather bulletins would be
important. Since the natural ecosystem provides
resources for most minority communities’ indig-
enous knowledge about food, medicine and pre-
servatives for their crops, it would also be
important to plant and conserve indigenous trees
and their biodiversity. Besides, trees are the basic
source of fuel in these communities. Figure  2
shows the community development basket of pri-
orities in the face of the climate change threat. It
tries to suggest and emphasise that since climate
change hit hardest marginal communities like
those in south-west Zimbabwe, policies and solu-
tions to such climate change problems should
start from these marginal areas. In other words,
we should think from the periphery and with the
periphery towards the centre and not vice versa.
An identification of community development
needs in itself may, however, not be conclusive as
an approach for minority farmer communities to
cope with climate change. Roles of communities
themselves and the government must be clarified.
Communities usually co-operate in initiatives
they themselves suggest. On the basis of the con-
duct, interaction with study participants and

Livestock Pastures Water Infrastructure Markets and

Energy
Browse creating
Cattle Chicken value chains
Goats Roads
feeds Wood
Sheep Domestic use Bridges
Solar
Indigenous Schools Beef
chicken Cooking Health Centres Goat meat
Drinking Radio, TV, ICT Mopane worms
Laundry Tourism
Hygiene Fish
Local purposes Game meat
ecosystems Safari hunting
Productive
Wild animals use
Mopane worms
Wild fruits Vegetables
Ilala grass Irrigation
River reeds Community
Furniture gardens

Fig. 1  Important resources and value chains in South-western Zimbabwean districts

Climate Change and Minority Communities’ Development Basket of Priorities
Fig. 2  South-western Zimbabwe communities’ development basket of priorities
results, this study suggests an identify-define-­
initiate-lead (IDIL) role for communities and a
protect–empower–capacitate–facilitate (PECF)
role for the state to help communities in south-­
western Zimbabwe cope with the dire climate
change impacts.
In this model, communities should identify
their needs, define their development trajectory,
initiate development activities and lead the
development process itself. However, minority
communities are by their nature vulnerable to
both inside outside influence and manipulation.
In line with the developmental state approach
which recognises the state as being nationalis-
tic in nature and approach to development, the
state should of necessity protect minority
farmer community initiatives through support-
ing policies and programmes; capacitate com-
75
munities financially, infrastructurally and
materially and empower communities by mak-
ing them owners of resources in their immedi-
ate environs. For example, wildlife in Beitbridge
should advantage the Venda, Suthu and
Shangani, while water and fish resources in
Lake Kariba should benefit the Tonga. Kalanga
and San communities in Bulilima should be
cushioned against climate change impacts by
wildlife in Makhulela ward. Above all, the state
should facilitate development through provid-
ing expertise in various fields, including live-
stock management to these communities as
they battle for survival against the climate
change threat. The IDIL-PECF model is illus-
trated in Fig. 3. It is a cupful solution to com-
munity development in the face of climate
change and variability.
76 Indigenous Minority Farmer Communities Development Basket of Priorities in South-West Zimbabwe

during periods of short-term extreme weather.

The current high frequency of droughts, floods
and the ever-lowering water tables in these dis-
tricts have rendered communities’ indigenous
knowledge systems unreliable and unsustainable.
Consequences have been reduced food crops,
decline in farming stock, mainly cattle\sheep and
other household animals and reduced natural out-
puts from the ecosystem. However, all three sam-
ple districts are richly endowed with resources
which could be exploited to complement com-
munities’ fringe-coping strategies to climate
change and variability. These resources include
wildlife, rivers and dams, which, through minor-
ity community-sensitive policy formulation and
implementation, can help these communities sur-
vive the threat of climate change through diversi-
fication of response options. Minority farmer
communities “development basket of priorities”
is identified and used to formulate the IDIL-­
Fig. 3  The IDIL-PECF model for community develop-
ment in SW Zimbabwe PECF model, which is a community-initiated
development option for all three districts in the
face of climate change. The model is premised on
Using this approach, minority farmer commu- the developmental state theory because of its
nities would develop from within but under the nationalistic approach which is believed to be
protection of the state. Other outside players and sympathetic to local communities in terms of
benefactors may only come to aid the process preservation of their diverse community culture,
which is inward-looking and fundamentally uses traditions and indigenous knowledge systems.
local indigenous resources and respects commu- Government, NGOs and other development part-
nity indigenous knowledge systems. ners should, therefore, partner with minority
Minority farmer communities in south-­ farmer communities as they seek to diversify
western Zimbabwe confirm climate change as the their options for survival in the face of climate
biggest threat to their livelihoods. Climate change change. While communities should play a lead-
and climate variability have impacted their agro-­ ing role, government should provide the much-­
pastoral activities and the natural biodiversity needed protection, capacity, empowerment and
which has historically provided safety cushions facilitation.
 Conclusion
There is demonstrable evidence, both qualitative
and quantitative, that the climate is changing in
all three south-western Zimbabwean districts of
Beitbridge, Bulilima and Binga. Temperatures
have been increasing since the 1950s in the three
districts and rainfall has become more variable.
Minority farmer communities have known cli-
mate change not from books, seminars or work-
shops, but have experienced it in various ways,
which include mainly recurrent droughts, increas-
ingly hot temperatures, heat waves and periodic
cyclonic episodes which cause serious floods.
Consequently, the farmers have seen these cli-
matic extremes triggering environmental change
which includes the drying of wetlands, rivers and
streams from excessive evapotranspiration. The
changing climate has also contributed to the
depletion of rangelands and the ecosystem in
general, on which these communities depend for
various services like food, medicine and pastures
for their livelihood. This has negatively impacted
the general livelihood of minority farmer com-
munities who have depended almost exclusively
on the natural environment.
Climatic changes and variability have resulted
in limited household economic options for minor-
ity farmer communities. Livestock, especially
cattle, which traditionally are the bedrock of
community economic affluence, is hardest hit by
rapidly degrading pastures. Multiple deaths of
cattle during recurrent droughts have heavily
depleted household herds. Cattle have always
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Matsa, Climate Change and Agriculture in Zimbabwe, Sustainable Development Goals Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51346-7_8
been safety nets in these communities. Their
depletion means hunger, starvation, school drop-
outs and general socio-economic insecurity
which push the economically active population
out of these communities in search of better for-
tune elsewhere. In Beitbridge, the Venda, Suthu
and Shangani youths drift to South Africa. In
Bulilima district they skip the border into
Botswana and South Africa. Most of these cross-­
border movements are illegal. This has social and
economic implications for the family back home,
in the event of migrants dying in those countries.
In the case of Binga, movements of the economi-
cally active are usually within the borders of
Zimbabwe to urban areas like Hwange and
Bulawayo.
In good rainfall years, minority farmer com-
munities in south-western districts generally get
favourable crop yields of mainly millet, sorghum
and some maize among other crops. The prob-
lem, however, is that farmers have become scep-
tical of both weather and climate. They have had
several “false starts” in which promising rainy
seasons turned out to be agonisingly some of the
worst in terms of harvests. Such experiences have
resulted in many farmers abandoning dry land
farming plots altogether. In the absence of gov-
ernment and NGO food handouts, this has caused
starvation in some households.
In resilient households, favourable rainfall
years become an opportunity for preservation and
conservation. They harvest crops and expertly
77
78 Conclusion

prepare and conserve them using “ages-long” tra- with climate change and the environmental
ditional methods of grain storage. Grain like sor- change associated with it make these communi-
ghum, millet and groundnuts are stored in ties fundamentally vulnerable in three ways.
traditional granaries where they remain unwee- First, they are vulnerable to climate change
viled for several years and thus are an important itself through extreme weather events like
and strategic fall-back option in repeated periods droughts, floods, cyclones, heat waves, pests and
of drought and other climate change–induced diseases. These ills do not only render unbenefi-
extremities. There will be better options for pas- cial any productive attempts in their crop fields
tures, medicine and watering points for their live- but also make their bodies weak as they grapple
stock. Indigenous strategies are therefore still with the relatively accelerated change in the cur-
very important in south-western districts of rent climate regime. Ecological environment-­
Zimbabwe to cope with and adjust to climate based resources like water, fruits and pastures are
change. These strategies, however, are only effec- functions of precipitation. Without precipitation,
tive if the frequency of the change is not pro- these resources become either scarce or unavail-
longed. If the changes become prolonged, able. If precipitation becomes excessive, accom-
communities become more vulnerable and may panied by strong winds and floods as happened in
need assistance outside their socio-economic and 2000 because of Cyclone Eline, 2003 because of
environmental capacity. Cyclone Japhet and 2019 because of Cyclone
The increasing number of extreme drought Idai, it becomes destructive. Many homesteads,
and occasional flood years are causing inconsis- bridges, schools and clinics damaged or destroyed
tencies in yields. The inconsistencies do not only by these cyclones remain in a state of disrepair to
drive the youthful population out but also create this day (2020) in Beitbridge and Bulilima dis-
generational gaps in the acquisition of traditional tricts. In this case, inaccessibility exacerbates
knowledge and skills of coping with climate vulnerability as aid may fail to reach affected
change and climate variability. Climate change is communities. More than half of the total irriga-
not a sudden event, but a process which has been tion schemes in Beitbridge remain dysfunctional
gradually unfolding over the years since the because of Cyclone Eline-induced floods.
advent of industrialisation. Like any other rural The second level of vulnerability for these
community dependent on the natural environ- communities is to government. Minority farmer
ment worldwide, communities in south-western communities in south-western Zimbabwe tradi-
Zimbabwe have been adjusting to climatic tionally occupy Matabeleland North Province (in
changes over centuries. They have been develop- which is Binga district), and Matabeleland South
ing and perfecting various mechanisms to Province (in which are Beitbridge and Bulilima
respond in terms of household food preparation, districts). These provinces have generally been
conservation and preservation. They have devel- critical of central government in Harare since
oped traditional ways of fodder collection, prepa- independence in 1980, and therefore they believe
ration and conservation just as they have also they are not on the “preferred list” when it comes
identified, tested and approved traditional forms to development initiatives. The Tonga commu-
of medicine for themselves and their livestock. nity in Binga district, for example, has been sus-
These traditional knowledge systems and stores picious of government initiatives since colonial
are now facing the threat of climate change times when they were evicted from the wetter
through the flight of the youths in search of sus- Zambezi Valley in the 1960s to allow for the con-
tainable living conditions in various parts of the struction of the Kariba Dam wall and the eventual
Southern African sub-region. development of Lake Kariba. Though officially
Minority farmer communities in south-­ undocumented, there is an undercurrent belief in
western Zimbabwe are in livelihood dire straits some corridors of power that the Venda, Suthu
because of climate change. The threatened reli- and Shangani of Beitbridge are minorities of
ability of their indigenous endeavours to cope Nguni origin and, therefore, not very critical in
Conclusion
the political and economic power matrix of the
country. The same is insinuated about the
Kalanga, who spill over into Botswana to the
south-west and are thus partially identified with
that country. Some people from these districts
openly boast that they are more South African
than Zimbabwean by virtue of their ancestry and
culture. Faced with climate change–related chal-
lenges, which by nature spare no one, these com-
munities face the marginality of being attended to
last when the larger and more vocal communities
have been served.
The mistrust between the government and
minority communities in the south-western dis-
tricts is the reason why government initiatives to
improve community life in these areas are some-
times viewed with scorn. Despite this, govern-
ment has several initiatives in all three sampled
districts of the study which, if put to full use, can
meaningfully cushion communities against cli-
mate change and climate variability effects.
These include Zhove dam in Beitbridge,
Maitengwe (Mabhongane) dam in Bulilima and
Lungwalala dam in Binga. Apart from establish-
ing or maximising the potential of irrigation
schemes around these relatively large water bod-
ies, viable fishery projects can also be established
to benefit communities.
Communities in this part of the country, how-
ever, do not see initiatives by government as very
helpful in their plight against the effects of cli-
mate change. The reason is simple. Government
is involved in programmes and projects which
aim at developing the whole community infra-
structurally, hence it builds dams, bridges, roads,
schools and clinics. However, hungry communi-
ties do not view such infrastructure as develop-
ment because it does not ameliorate individual
household suffering from the effects of climate
change. To them, development is when individual
households benefit directly, for example, through
being given wheelbarrows, food, money and
other such items. While it scored some successes
prior year 2000, government initiatives in the
south-western districts during the current millen-
nium have been minimal. The major reasons for
the limited successes are entrenched in the back-
lash consequences from both internal and exter-
79
nal forces. These resulted in the historic
2000–2009 hyperinflationary period which virtu-
ally paralysed all development initiatives
nationally.
Recurrent droughts are now a perennial phe-
nomenon in south-western districts of Zimbabwe.
They, together with very hot conditions, are the
keystone features of climate change in these dis-
tricts. Combined, they make life unbearable.
They result in famine which is felt at household
level and by each individual affected. Under such
circumstances, it becomes unacceptable for gov-
ernment to boast about having invested in roads,
bridges, schools and clinics. Communities in
south-western Zimbabwe believe government
thinks about them only when national general
elections are imminent. This is the time when
they are given food handouts to hoodwink com-
munities into voting for them. They do not believe
infrastructural development is a form of commu-
nity development or empowerment. The other
reason government initiatives are not popular
with communities is that government makes
communities work for food in doing projects like
gully filling, repairing roads, bridges and other
infrastructure, while NGOs comparatively give
food and other assistance at little or no labour at
all.
The third level of vulnerability is to non-­
governmental organisations. NGOs go to these
climate change-affected communities in rela-
tively large numbers. Since they are well-funded,
they offer communities different packages which
include relief food, seed packs, borehole drilling,
community garden projects, fish projects, chicken
projects, pig projects, apiary projects and cash
for households. Most activities by NGOs address
community problems at household level. This
makes NGOs very popular in all three sample
districts. During the data collection stage for this
research, there was clear evidence of household
respondents trying to hide the truth about how
they were coping with the effects of climate
change. Many tried to hide possessions like live-
stock quantities, crop yield quantities and remit-
tances thinking the researcher was an NGO agent
on a household fact-finding mission which may
result in them being given NGO assistance.
80
Direct observations, however, betrayed the
respondents’ false assertions.
Communities thus give an impression of des-
peration to get aid from NGOs. It may be that
they rely more on their traditional knowledge
systems to cushion themselves against climate
change. However, because it is cheaper in terms
of money, labour and time to just receive food
than work for it, it is not surprising that most
respondents suggested that NGO assistance is the
most sustainable option for them to cope with cli-
mate change and variability.
While it helps communities, NGO humanitar-
ian assistance in these districts cripples commu-
nity initiatives, making people lazy and
dependent. Several crop fields in Madlambuzi
and Hingwe in Bulilima district were observed
lying fallow as households become overly depen-
dent on NGOs. This new tendency of abandoning
farming to rely mainly on NGO assistance
destroys a whole community. For minority farmer
communities, farming is an art, a culture, a liveli-
hood. It is a coping strategy against climate
change and variability. Means of survival
acquired by communities in specific geographi-
cal areas over the years are invaluable in helping
communities sustain themselves across genera-
tions. The way crops are grown, tended, har-
vested, preserved for seed and for future as food
and the way livestock are cared for, helped in
birth, treated of diseases, sent to milagas, are all
skills which hold communities together. They
give them an identity and ensure their resilience
and sustainability. Such cultural traits should thus
be passed from one generation to the next through
reproduction and productive continuity. It is this
cultural fabric which handouts from NGOs
threaten among communities as they rely on for-
eign handouts. Current generations will miss the
opportunity to carry forward the indigenous
knowledge of their communities. They will lose
their culture, their identity because they will have
no reference to how their parents and ancestors
withstood pressures against climate change and
climate variability.
Blind faith by communities exposes them to
political manipulation by NGOs during election
time as they can be influenced into supporting a
Conclusion
preferred political party. This puts communities in
a development quagmire as central government
confirms the suspicion that these communities are
its opponents. In the face of climate change chal-
lenges, such suspicion further alienates these
communities from development initiatives.
In summary, initiatives by government and
NGOs are destroying indigenous knowledge sys-
tems of minority farmer communities in south-­
western Zimbabwe. They emphasise mitigation
strategies rather than promote indigenous knowl-
edge adaptation. There is very little effort to try to
help communities develop, sustain or, at least,
retain their indigenous knowledge systems.
Instead of investing in research programmes and
projects aimed at improving traditional seed and
livestock varieties which have sustained these
communities over generations, government and
NGO initiatives usually ignore this. They usually
provide these communities with non-indigenous
varieties of maize, which in most cases are not
time-tested in these regions and hence become
experimental. In this respect, minority communi-
ties become guinea pigs for both government and
NGOs to test the suitability of “new” crops in
these climate change-hit areas.
Communities in the south-western districts
have historically relied on their traditionally
treated sorghum and millet varieties for seed and
food. These varieties have been expertly passed
from one generation to the next, but because of
the climate change threat which has now become
reality mostly in the form of drought and hotter
conditions, the traditional germplasm of these
crops has gradually been lost. Government and
NGOs have both contributed to the loss of these
livelihood threats by bringing in the staple maize
crop of the majority and dominant Shona and
Ndebele communities to replace sorghum and
millet in the minority farming communities of
south-western districts. Government usually
brings maize seed packs during the planting sea-
son in the form of the Government Input Support
Scheme while NGOs provide their own seeds,
usually from abroad during the planting season.
For these communities, it is essentially
development by outsiders, hence they do not
­
quite embrace it as their development.
Way Forward
At the onset of the rainy season, farmers usu-
ally plant whatever seeds they have despite vari-
ety or suitability to their changing climate and
environment. This results in low yields or no
yields at all, thereby perpetuating poverty. This
exposes policy weakness on the part of govern-
ment in protecting and empowering these minor-
ity farmer communities in this era of the changing
climate threat.
Despite government and NGO influence in the
south-western districts, there is still considerable
reliance on indigenous knowledge systems. The
Venda, Suthu and Shangani in Beitbridge, for
example, extensively use traditional medicine to
treat livestock. Their livestock also relies sub-
stantially on the leaves, fruits and twigs they col-
lect for them during extreme drought periods. In
Binga, Tonga households use moringa tree leaves
extensively as relish during the prolonged dry
season. In Bulilima district, however, the Kalanga
are fast losing their wealth of indigenous knowl-
edge because of remittances and other provisions
from relatives in South Africa and Botswana. The
Kalanga, especially those in Hingwe ward, has
become a consumer community with very little
production taking place in the fields. Youths in
Bulilima and Beitbridge are generally not inter-
ested in finding solutions to improving their live-
lihoods while in Zimbabwe. They desperately
need someone who would facilitate their going to
South Africa. This “South Africa Dream” is so
prevalent that Bulilima and Beitbridge communi-
ties are now essentially outward-looking.
Way Forward
 eneral Recommendations for All
G temperature patterns, AGRITEX officers in all
Three Districts
The best approach to finding solutions to climate
change and variability for government, commu-
nities and all other stakeholders is to first
acknowledge that climate change is a phenome-
non over which they do not have much control.
Minority farmer communities in Beitbridge,
Bulilima and Binga can play their part if ade-
quately capacitated. For example, more dams
81
could be built on all big rivers so that most of the
run-off is captured for irrigation, domestic use
and other forms of development. Roof water har-
vesting can also be done at all schools and even
homesteads which have tiles, asbestos or iron
sheets if these are provided with suitable material
to construct large reservoirs. The biggest weak-
ness in all district councils’ visions is their failure
to realise climate change as the major single
threat to their districts’ development. In their cur-
rent 5-year Strategic Plans (2015–2020), district
councils had no mention of climate change in
their vision, mission, strategic goals, strategic
objectives or even work plans, and yet climate
change and variability are the reasons why com-
munities in south-western Zimbabwe are in live-
lihood dire straits. All district councils must of
necessity include, emphasise and implement cli-
mate change projects and programmes in their
future development strategic plans (2020 and
beyond).
Climate change impacts in Beitbridge, Binga
and Bulilima districts can be counteracted effec-
tively if government and NGOs shop from the
local community needs priority basket. The own-
ers of developmental projects must always be the
local communities, supported by government,
and only complemented by NGOs, which should
fit in the agenda of the community and not bring
their own agendas. Even where government
wants to help, there must be a double-arrowed
bottom-top approach between the local commu-
nity and government. Government should inform
the local communities what it offers while, in
turn, communities would pick their needs from
government’s offer of programmes and projects.
In light of changes in seasonal rainfall and
three districts should educate minority commu-
nity farmers that times have changed and that
there is a need for them to adjust their farming
calendars. Farmers should be advised on what to
grow and when to grow, which conforms to the
new rainfall pattern.
Though milagas have traditionally worked for
them, farmers should now realise that as a result
of climate change and variability, rangeland pro-
ductivity has now slowed down. Milagas have
82
become overstocked and, unlike in the past, cattle
now die even at milagas. Farmers should, there-
fore, be advised by the Livestock Development
Programme (LDP) that livestock should not only
be rangeland-based. Farmers can save their live-
stock through supplementary feeding which can
be achieved by selling a few cattle in order to
raise money for livestock feed. Farmers should
keep fewer cattle which can be fed adequately
and sustainably.
Though useful in the short to medium term,
small earth dams are not lasting solutions to
water problems in all three districts. Many of
these dams have silted and this has been wors-
ened by cyclone-induced floods. Their rehabilita-
tion is expensive. Government should, therefore,
construct at least two large dams per district.
Such dams would then become the bases for sus-
tainable livelihoods through communal irrigation
schemes.
Another viable option would be for
Government or NGOs to sink and maintain bore-
holes capable of sustaining both small-scale and
large-scale irrigation schemes for communities.
Shashe irrigation scheme in Beitbridge, for
example, extracts water directly from Shashe
River-bed through electricity-powered submers-
ible pumps. A similar scheme could be initiated
at Manjolo wetland in Binga district.
Projects like sustainable use of wetlands and
gully reclamation, for example, have not been
very successful in all districts because of the sus-
picion associated with foreigners to local culture
and tradition. It is, therefore, important that
before introducing any solution to climate change
and variability into the district, stakeholders like
Government and NGOs should first identify, train
and capacitate a few local leaders. These would
then capacitate communities without much suspi-
cion and resistance.
Effective rural development of isolated com-
munities like the Venda, Suthu and Shangani in
Beitbridge, Kalanga and San in Bulilima and
Tonga in Binga districts can be meaningfully
aided by efficient local governance structures
such as village development committees
(VIDCOs) and ward development committees
(WADCOs). In all the three districts, these arms
Conclusion
of local development are not functional. This is
because of poor co-ordination between the
District Administrator’s office, which is respon-
sible for setting them up, and the Rural District
Council, which needs these structures to effec-
tively implement programmes among communi-
ties. The office of the District Administrator and
that of the District Chief Executive Officer must,
therefore, be harmonised for smooth implemen-
tation of programmes and projects at grassroots
level.
With their high livestock populations, it would
have been expected that Beitbridge and Bulilima
districts have vibrant meat processing industries
for both local and export markets. This could
benefit local farmer communities by providing
them with a financial cushion against climate
change. The districts, however, are not adequately
exploiting this comparative advantage over other
districts. Government should resuscitate the Cold
Storage Commission (CSC), a parastatal which
used to be very vibrant as a beef producer and
exporter before the fast-track land reform pro-
gramme in 2000. South-western districts were
the major resource base for beef during that
period. If this is achieved, minority farmer com-
munities could be transformed from subsistence
to commercial beef producers. They would then
use income from beef farming to cushion them-
selves against the effects of climate change.
The schooling system and youth development
in Beitbridge, Bulilima and Binga districts are
areas which need urgent attention by Government.
They are lagging behind if one compares them
with other districts, especially towards the cen-
tral, eastern and northern parts of the country.
Education levels of youths from these districts
are generally low and the majority fail to qualify
for tertiary educational institutions. This reduces
their survival options in the face of climate
change and variability. This has long-term effects
on the quality of the districts’ human resource
base and the generation of enterprises from
within these districts. Government, through its
twin Ministries of Education, should carry out
long-term awareness programmes to conscientise
parents and children on the need to base their
future on education. More schools should be con-
District-Specific Recommendations
structed closer to learners as an incentive to pro-
mote educational qualifications. Emphasis should
be given to practical subjects related to crop, live-
stock and wildlife management, which are the
districts’ niches.
Probably, Beitbridge and Bulilima rural dis-
tricts’ biggest threat, apart from climate change,
is in their demographic mosaics. There are a large
and persistent youth and male migration pattern
from all rural areas of the districts to farms in the
northern parts of South Africa and Botswana.
This has negative implications for labour and
intellect supply for local enterprises.
Beitbridge, Bulilima and Binga districts all
have CAMPFIRE projects which used to be
vibrant before the national economic slump of
2000 to early 2009. CAMPFIRE projects benefit
communities through infrastructural develop-
ment and occasional game meat for households.
This was enough incentive for communities to
participate in wildlife and ecosystem conserva-
tion. Conserving ecosystems is in itself a mitiga-
tion strategy against climate change and
variability. Government, through the Department
of National Parks and Wildlife Management
Authority and the Forestry Commission must
ensure that CAMPFIRE projects are capacitated,
well-funded and fully operational. This is impor-
tant because income from these projects benefit
minority farmer communities in their endeavour
to cope with climate change impacts.
District-Specific Recommendations
Binga District
With the help of the Forestry Commission, Binga
Rural District Council should have a deliberate
policy of tree planting and caring for both indig-
enous and exotic species in all wards of the dis-
trict. The programme should involve all schools
and the community at large. This will increase
transpiration and possibly rainfall amounts. The
Tonga type of chitemene, very common in the
district, where most households have large areas
of land where they practise this slash–burn–dig
and sow type of agriculture rotationally must be
83
discouraged by AGRITEX as it is responsible for
the serious deforestation in the district.
Given Binga’s diverse physical environment,
solutions to the district’s problems are likely to
be variable through interventions by Government,
NGOs and other well-wishers: Wards closest to
Lake Kariba (Simatelele, Tyunga, Sianzyundu
and Saba) should be capacitated in fisheries by
being provided with fishing rigs through local
fishing cooperatives. Government should subsi-
dise charges for fishing for local communities.
Wards like Lusulu, Tinde and Siabuwa may do
well if Government and NGOs support them with
crop (millet and sorghum) inputs. Sianzyundu
and Simatelele have potential for goat-keeping.
Manjolo community can be sustainable with a
serious investment in market gardening, given its
wetland and natural springs.
In light of the fact that most Campfire projects
in Binga district are currently not functional and
yet they can be important safety nets against cli-
mate change and variability, there is a dire need
for government to inject a substantial amount of
money into these projects in order to resuscitate
them. Binga is a water-stressed district, and to
boost its water supply both for domestic and
wildlife use, Government could identify a stake-
holder who would sink boreholes in the district.
The district has very few dams so several small
dams could be constructed to hold water up to the
next rain season. This will cushion communities,
livestock and wildlife from the vicissitudes of cli-
matic changes and variability.
Beitbridge District
It is estimated that Kruger National Park in South
Africa, which is part of Greater Limpopo
Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA),
receives about one million foreign tourists a year.
However, the park is considered by many tourists
to have become “too developed” and over-
crowded by tourists that some tour operators are
looking for alternative wildlife destinations
within the GLTFCA (BBRDC 2010). It is
anticipated that some of these tourists may
­
choose to visit the Zimbabwean side of the con-
84
servation park and, in the process, benefit the
tourism sector within Beitbridge district. The
basis of this expectation is that many foreign
tourists are keen to see animals in their natural
habitat in situations where there is very little
development in the park and fewer visitors. In
light of this, Government should develop roads
and other infrastructure like hotels, chalets,
lodges, on the Zimbabwean (Beitbridge) side in
order to facilitate the smooth movement of tour-
ists. This is important for minority farmer com-
munities who would benefit from this through
proceeds from the CAMPFIRE programme and
also through market creation for their produce.
Lessons from Chisumbanje and Middle Sabi
Estates in Chipinge District which share a com-
mon environment in terms of climate and soils
with Beitbridge indicate great potential in large-­
scale sugar cane growing within Beitbridge dis-
trict under irrigation. Such a venture is likely to
have significant social and economic gains for
the district. The Agricultural Rural Development
Authority (ARDA) Chisumbanje project has seen
more than 4000 ha of land being put under sugar
cane production in order to produce bio-fuel for
the country under a private sector–parastatal part-
nership between MaCdom Pvt. Ltd. and
ARDA. Sugar cane processing into ethanol pro-
duces molasses as a by-product. Molasses is used
for cattle fattening. The Chisumbanje example
thus serves as a model whose lessons can be
applied in Beitbridge by both Government and
Beitbridge Rural District Council to alleviate
challenges presented by climate change to minor-
ity farmer communities. Such a project will not
only create many jobs for communities (thereby
reducing outward youth migration), but will also
significantly lower livestock deaths from drought-­
related famine.
Only 20% of the irrigation schemes in
Beitbridge district are functional despite the fact
that it falls in agro-ecological region 5 with an
average rainfall of 300 mm (BBRDC 2010). Lack
of fully functional and efficient irrigation
schemes has negative implications on food secu-
rity within the district especially among minority
farmer communities who are on the fringes of
development. Beitbridge Rural District Council
Conclusion
should partner other arms of government like the
irrigation department and AGRITEX to resusci-
tate and improve capacity utilisation of irrigation
schemes in the district.
Emphasis of the district’s irrigation schemes
is on subsistence farming rather than on commer-
cialisation. Average irrigation plot sizes range
between 0.1 and 0.3 ha which are relatively small
(BBRDC 2010). Though this approach used to be
sustainable several decades ago and had stuck in
the mindset of communal minority farmers, the
advent of climate change and its destructive
effects has rendered subsistence farming unsus-
tainable. Government and NGO initiatives have
not helped much with their food handouts which
are only temporary and do not guarantee food
security. Better coordination of the farmers by
AGRITEX, NGOs and even among themselves is
required to make irrigation schemes commer-
cially successful.
Bulilima District
Bulilima Rural District Council should acknowl-
edge climate change as an important variable in
the development of the district. To this effect,
ward by ward workshops should be held to con-
scientise the community about climate change
and its devastating impact on the environment
and their livelihoods in general. This will enable
council and the community to work together in
coming up with mutually acceptable solutions to
problems.
The relatively strong livestock resource base
of Bulilima can have the answer to the district’s
climate change inflicted problems through mak-
ing full usage of this comparative advantage.
Government has already designated Plumtree
town an Export Processing Zone. It should go
ahead and establish a major beef industry in the
town so that communal farmers can have a ready
market for their cattle.
To make this effort both viable and sustain-
able, the district’s perennial water problem must
be addressed, thus, big dams should be
­constructed along major rivers like Tekwane and
Manzamnyama to support the industrial base.
District-Specific Recommendations
Government should also take the lead in mobilis-
ing other stakeholders who would invest in water
sourcing and water retention projects like dredg-
ing all silted rivers and dams. To achieve this
effectively, all rivers and dams catchment areas
should be reclaimed through a deliberate district-­
wide tree planting programme in the catchment
areas which should then be fenced off to protect
them from further degradation. Local people
should be conscientised at the onset of the pro-
gramme to make them active and voluntary par-
ticipants. They already acknowledge that water is
their biggest problem and have indicated that a
solution to water problems would effectively
change their lives for the better. Besides, the proj-
ect would have a number of them either employed
or engaged in food-for-work development
projects.
Though still relatively a pipe dream, govern-
ment should expedite the Zambezi–Matabeleland
85
Water Project and extend it to supply water to
forgotten areas of the region like Bulilima. Water
availability would “green” the district through
sustainable market gardens, large-scale irrigation
schemes and healthier livestock. This is impor-
tant because Bulilima has no precious mineral
wealth and other high-value exploitable resources
which other districts benefit from through
government-­ initiated community share owner-
ship schemes.
In the short term, however, since most land is
now state property, government should designate
some of its farms in Bulilima district so that they
become retreat areas for communal livestock
(imilaga) for no charge. These farms should be
fenced and paddocked so that livestock can be
fed on a rotational basis throughout the dry sea-
son. This will guarantee sustainable livestock
health and, hence a sustainable Kalanga
community.
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 Index

A Binga community, 57
Adaptation mechanisms, 3 Binga District livestock, 55
Adaptation planning, 19 Binga farming communities
Adaptive traditional indigenous strategies, 13 AGRITEX, 69
Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation, biodiversity, 68
29 CAMPFIRE, 69
Agricultural adaptation strategies, 13 changing climate, 68
Agricultural production, 16 climate change, 68, 69
Agricultural research, 19 degrading environmental resources, 68
Agricultural Rural Development Authority (ARDA), 84 ecosystem, 68
Agricultural Technical and Extension Services environmental resources, 68
(AGRITEX), 61, 62 indigenous knowledge systems, 68
AGRITEX, 69, 81, 83 LDP, 69
Agro-economy, 72 livestock, 69
Agro-pastoralism, 6 NGOs, 70
Agro-productive system, 4 resource limitation, 70
Amarula, 70 soil, 68
Ankara system, 13 vulnerability, 69
Binga Rural District Council, 63
Bulilima, 31, 36, 39
B Bulilima farming communities
Beitbridge farming communities BaKalanga, 65
Beitbridge Rural District Council, 71 changing seasons, 65
CAMPFIRE, 71 climate change, 65
climate change, 70 collection/eating, wild fruits, 66
community trust, 70 craft activities, 66
gardening projects, 70 cultural practices, 66
government, 72 donkeys, 66
indigenous coping strategy, 71 draught power, 65, 66
irrigation schemes, 70 education, 67
LDP, 71 goats, 66
livestock, 70, 71 government, 67
local grain varieties, 72 household food insecurity, 65
Maramani Ilala project, 71 loss of livestock, 65
minority communities, 71 marriage systems, 66
miragas, 72 national radio, 66
mopane worms, 70 NGOs, 67
NGOs, 72 river and dam siltation, 67
occupation, 72 sending cattle, 66
pastures, 71 television airwaves, 66
wildlife, 71 traditional art, 66
Beitbridge Rural District Council, 71 traditional household gardens, 65
Berries, 50 weather events, 65
Binga, 32, 40 Zimbabwe, 67

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 93

M. Matsa, Climate Change and Agriculture in Zimbabwe, Sustainable Development Goals Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51346-7
94 Index

C Consultative Group on International Agricultural

Caltkin reed (Saccharum spontaneum), 14 Research (CGIAR), 28
CAMPFIRE, 69, 71, 73, 83 Consultative Groups on International Agricultural
CARE International, 63, 64 Research (CGIAR), 19
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), 63 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 18
Cattle, 23, 77 Crop farming, 6
Cattle buyers, 53 Cross-border migration, 24
Cereal crops, 1
Civil society organisations, 18
Climate change, 40 D
burden, 1 Deforestation, 24
communities, 4 Degraded land, 14
community-based research, 4 Degrading environmental resources, 68
coping strategies, 19 Desertification, 18
definition, 1 Development basket of priorities, 9
empirical research, 4 Developmental state theory, 72, 75, 76
farmers’ perceptions, 2 District-specific recommendations
frequency and severity, 2 Beitbridge district, 83, 84
impacts, 1, 4 Binga district, 83
manifestations, 4 Bulilima district, 84, 85
negative effects, 2 Division of Livestock and Veterinary Services, 26
programmes and policies, 3 Dominated central wards, 55
seasonal climate variability, 2 Donor organisations, 27
variability, 4, 5 Draught power, 65, 66
Zimbabwe, 2 Dry Areas Programme (DAP), 27
Climate change adaptation, 3, 4, 19 Drying crops, 51
Climate change-induced drought, 58
Climate change-related constraint, seed, 57
Climate change-related household coping strategies, 54 E
Climate change-related institutions, 2 Ecological environment-based resources, 78
Climate change-related policies, 2 Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP),
Climate variability, 1, 77 29, 67
Cold Storage Commission (CSC), 82 Environmental Management Agency (EMA), 61
Commercial farmers, 59 Environmental-related evidence, 47
Communal Areas Management Programme for
Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE), 53, 57,
59, 62 F
Communities’ assessments of sustainability, 9 Farm residue, 56
Community-based mixed economy strategy, 51 Farmers’ choices, 2
Community-driven adaptation strategies, 12 Farming communities, 55
Community elders/local leaders Far-off places (emirageni), 54
CAMPFIRE projects, 53 Fast-track land reform programme, 24
cattle buyers, 53 Favourable harvests, 59
cattle sale points, 53 Female genital mutilation (FGM), 15
chitemene shifting cultivation system, 52 Female-headed households, 59
climate change difficulties, 52 Financial and technical assistance, 19
environmental activities, 52 Fishing, 59
farm labourers, 53 Food availability, 16
GMB, 53 Food insecurity, 16
household income-generating activities, 52 Food insecurity vulnerability patterns, 16
indumba (cow peas), 52 Food security, 15, 19
Maramani Craft Centre, 53 Food supply stability, 16
minority farming communities, 53 Forecasting, 13
sheep ownership, 53 Fragile ecosystems, 12
smoking traditional marijuana, 52 Fringe areas and fringe communities, 7
water challenges, 52
western communities, 53
Community livestock sustenance, 56 G
Community pastoral strategies, 54, 55 Gardening, 64
Conference of Parties (COP), 3 Gathering communities, 24
Index
GHG-producing activities, 19
Global climate change, 1
Global climate change interventions, 3
Global Political Agreement (GPA), 27
Global Positioning Systems (GPS), 14
Government
programmes, 79
projects, 79
Government and non-governmental organizations
interventions
development programmes, 17
discrimination and marginalisation, 17
marginalisation, 18
national government procedures, 17
PRSPs, 17
PWPA, 18
transformational approach, 16
Government initiatives
AGRITEX, 61, 62
authorities, 61
Beitbridge district, 61, 63
Binga Rural District Council, 63
Bulilima district, 61–63
CAMPFIRE, 62
LDP, 61
LPD, 62
Lungwalala Dam, 62
presidential inputs Scheme, 61
south-western Zimbabwe cope, 61
Grain Marketing Board (GMB), 53
Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area
(GLTFCA), 83
H Insewula, 48
Heifer International Zimbabwe (HIZ), 27
Household food insecurity, 65
Household income-generating activities, 52
Household vulnerability, 24
Households livelihoods coping strategies
adaptable cattle breeds, 51
drought-resistant crops planting, 51
drying crops planting, 51
early maturing varieties, 50
economic activities diversification, 51
fruit trees, 50
fruits gathering, 51
Kalanga communities, 51
mopane worms, 52
planting long-term varieties, 50
polyculture, 50
probability planting, 51
short-term varieties, 50
traditional fruit trees planting, 51
Hyparrhenia grass, 50
I Kalahari geological sand system, 6–7
ICRISAT endeavours, 28
ICRISAT researches, 28
95
Identify-define-initiate-lead (IDIL), 75
IDIL-PECF model, 75, 76
Ill-equipped education institutions, 1
Indebted poor countries (HIPCs), 17
Indigenous environmental knowledge, 30
Indigenous households livelihoods
strategies, 51
Indigenous knowledge
adaptation planning, 19
climate change and vulnerability, 20
community-level responses, 14
definition, 11
development enterprises, 11
habitat alteration, 14
integrated agricultural systems, 13
livelihoods and well-being, 15
local-level decision-making, 11
resource, 11
skills and abilities, 12
Indigenous knowledge database, 30
Indigenous knowledge-sharing programmes, 12
Indigenous knowledge systems, 11
Indigenous minority farmer communities,
2, 5–7
Indigenous people organisations, 15
Indigenous plants and seeds, 11
Indigenous rural communities, 20
Indigenous strategies, 78
Indigenous traditional communities, 3
Indigenous traditional knowledge, 4
Indigenous Weather Knowledge Website Project
(IWKWP), 12
Indigenous Zai method, 14
Information communication technology (ICT), 57
Integrated agricultural systems, 13
International climate change negotiations, 18
International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics (ICRISAT), 28, 64
International debate, 3
International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD), 27
International Indigenous People’s Forum on Climate
Change (IIPFCC), 15
International Monitory Fund (IMF), 17
International non-profit organizations
ICRISAT, 28
minority farmer communities, 28
research and training centres, 28
SADCC, 28
SMIP, 28
IPCC regional assessment, 16
IPCC Third Assessment Report (TAR), 3, 18
Irrigation schemes, 84
K
Karro sandstone soils, 7
Kyoto Protocol, 3
96 Index

L social equity, 73
Land fragmentation, 24 south-western districts, 72
Land reform programme, 27 state protection, 73
Land use and land cover changes, 1 sustainable development, 73
Livelihoods constraints, rural communities, 24 wildlife, 73
Livestock, 31, 40, 77, 81, 84 Minority communities basket of priorities
Livestock Development Programme (LDP), 61, 69, 71, 82 climate change, 74, 76
Livestock feeding, 58 climate variability, 76
Livestock Production Department (LPD), 62 developmental state theory, 75, 76
Livestock sustenance, 54 ecological environment, 73
Local communities, 57 government, 76
Local indigenous communal knowledge, 20 identification, 74
Local indigenous knowledge systems, 4 IDIL, 75
Local leaders perceptions IDIL-PECF model, 75, 76
droughts, 49 natural ecosystem, 74
field crop harvests, 49 NGOs, 76
fruits, 48 PECF, 75
insewula, 48 resources, 74
kalukotwe, 48 south-western Zimbabwe, 73–76
Kavumbi kaniini, 48 trees, 74
Kunkumuna masamu, 48 value chains, 74
Lutumba village, 49 water, 74
masiyabhundu, 49 Minority farmer communities, 8, 9
Mopane worms (amacimbi), 49 south-western districts, 77
Mukazimaziba, 48 south-western Zimbabwe, 78
Nalupale, 48 Minority indigenous communities
seasons patterns, 48 climate change impact, 12
shadduf irrigation, 48 climate changes, 12
Suthu, 49 constraints, 14, 15
Tinde, 48 coping strategies, 19
Tonga nomenclature, 47 cryogenic conservation, 13
vegetables, 48 forecasting, 12, 13
Lutheran Development Service (LDS), 27 fragile ecosystems, 12
Lutheran World Federation (LWF), 27 hunting and gathering periods, 13
irrigation methods, 13
livestock management practices, 13
M localised seasonal calendars, 12
Maramani Ilala project, 71 preparedness, 13
Marginal land, 21 traditional forecasting knowledge, 13
Marginalisation, 12, 14 Mitigation and adaptation evaluation, 15
Marginalised communities, 15 Mitigation programmes, 18
Mean annual coefficient of variation Mitigation strategies, 3
annual rainfall Mopane worms (amacimbi), 49, 70
Beitbridge, 39, 43
Binga, 39–41
Bulilima, 39, 41, 42 N
summer rainfall National average rainfall, 21
Beitbridge, 39, 44, 45 National awareness and capacity, 19–20
Binga, 39, 43, 44 National Climate Policy, 5, 6, 24, 72
Bulilima, 39, 45, 46 National Early Warning Unit, 26
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 15 National Economic Revival Programme (NERP), 29
Millennium Economic Recovery Programme (MERP), 29 Nations Climate Change Meeting, 15
Millet varieties, 64 Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), 9, 27, 57
Minority communities address community problems, 79
agro-economy, 72 Beitbridge district, 63
CAMPFIRE, 73 Binga district, 63
climate change, 73 Bulilima communal farmers, 63
climate policy, 72 Bulilima district, 64
developmental state theory, 72 CARE International, 63, 64
government, 73 CCJP, 63
Index 97

communities, 80 community level, 25

gardening, 64 educational institutions, 26
government’s fast-track land reform programme, 63 gender sensitivity, 26
household fact-finding mission, 79 government delegation, 26
ICRISAT, 64 government policies, 26
LDS, 63 individual and collective experiences, 26
political manipulation, 80 lobbying policy makers, 25
Shashe Irrigation Scheme, 64 provincial and national leadership, 25
south-western districts, 81 vulnerability, 26
south-western Zimbabwe, 80
traditional knowledge systems, 80
vulnerability, 79 Q
World Food Programme, 64 Qashqai nomadic communities, 13

O R
Office of the High Commission for Human Rights Rainfall and temperature variations, 2
(OHCHR), 14 Rainfall time–series graph
Beitbridge, 31, 32
Binga, 32, 34
P Bulilima, 31, 33
Pastoralist communities, 17 livestock, 31
Pastures, 71 paired samples test
Patriotic Front–Zimbabwe African Peoples’ Union Beitbridge, 37
(PF-ZAPU), 61 Binga, 38, 39
Perennial Zambezi River, 56 Bulilima, 37, 38
Physical environment, 83 second vs third generations, 39
Plant genetic resources, 11 second vs third generations, Binga/Beitbridge, 32, 40
Policy-makers, 19 Tonga households, 33
Political alienation, 15 Rainfall variability, 21
Polyculture, 50 Rain-fed agriculture, 8
Post-2015 Global Development Agenda, 25 Rain-fed farming systems, 16
Post-independent Zimbabwe’s development Recurrent droughts, 79
Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic REDD negotiation, 18
Transformation, 29 Regime-change agenda, 27
economic policies failure, 30 Resilient agricultural systems, 16
first 5-year National Development Plan, 29 Resilient households, 77
home-grown policies, 29 Rights-based approaches, 20
imported policies and approaches, 29 River Tekwane, 50
modern industrial sector, 29 Roast inteme (mazhumwi) seeds, 49
people-centred policies, 29 Rocky pocket agriculture, 11
primary healthcare, 29 Rural communities, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean farmer communities, 29 climate change, 22
Poverty reduction programmes, 19 droughts, 22
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) land reform programme, 21
economic growth, 17 natural farming regions, 22
failure, 17, 18 rainfall, 21
government-led, 17 rainfall patterns, 21
IMF, 17 rain-fed crop and animal farming, 21
poverty reduction, 17 temperatures, 22
principle, 17 Rural landscapes, 24
research, 17
Presidential inputs Scheme, 61
Probability planting, 51 S
Programme of work on Protected Areas (PWPA), 18 SADCs Industrialization Strategy, 25
Pro-poor and gender-equitable approaches, 19 Schooling system, 82
Protect–empower–capacitate–facilitate (PECF), 75 Scientific and indigenous collaboration, 14
Public awareness initiatives, Zimbabwe Seasonal rainfall patterns, 56
climate change adaptation strategies, 26 Sedentary pastoralists, 54
climate change hazards, 25 Shadduf irrigation, 48
98 Index

Shashe Irrigation Scheme, 64, 82 U

Smallholder Dry Areas Resource Management Project UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 15
(SDARMP), 27 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 28
Smallholder Irrigation Support Programme United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 28
(SHISP), 27 Urbanisation, 1
SMIP programme, 28
Soil conservation techniques, 13
Sorghum and millet improvement programme V
(SMIP), 28 Village development committees (VIDCOs), 82
Sorghum and pearl millet, 28 “Voices from the Bay” project, 14
Sour milk (amasi), 54 Vulnerability, 16, 18
South-Eastern Dry Areas Project (SEDAP), 27 Vulnerable minorities, 4
Southern Africa Development Coordination Conference
(SADCC), 28
South-western Zimbabwe W
agro-pastoralism, 6 Warabandi system, 14
cattle, 7, 22, 23 Ward development committees (WADCOs), 82
climate change, 47 Waru Waru ancient irrigation methods, 13
climate projections, 23 Water, 74
communal minority farmers, 22 Water sources, 56
districts, 7 Weather events, 78
droughts, 23 White commercial farmers, 55
environmental changes, 23 Wild fruits, 49
government and NGOs involvement, Wildlife, 71, 73
26–28 World Food Programme, 64
grass species, 7
household self-sustenance, 23
labour migration, 7 Z
limited economic activity, 7 Zambezi River valley flood, 49
livestock cropping system, 22 Zambezi–Matabeleland Water Project, 85
livestock ownership, 23 Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front
minority farmer communities, 27 (ZANU PF), 61
natural vegetation, 7 Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, 56
rainfall efficiency, 23 Zimbabwe climate change policy framework
regosols, 6 agricultural assistance, 6
south-western districts, 6 climate policies, 5
Sustainable programmes, 3 climate-related shocks, 5
Suthu and Shangaani minority farmer crop farming, 6
communities, 57 indigenous minority farmer communities, 5, 6
localised approach, 6
remote communities, 5
T resilience, 6
Temperature time–series graph socio-economic development, 5
Beitbridge, 31, 32 study area, 6–7
Binga, 32, 34 transitional Stabilisation Programme, 6
generations 2 vs. 3, Binga/Beitbridge, 34 ZimAsset, 5
paired samples test Zimbabwe first 5-year National Development Plan, 29
Beitbridge, 34, 35 Zimbabwe government approaches
Binga, 36 National Climate Policy, 24
Bulilima, 35, 36 national programmes and projects, 25
Tonga communities, 47, 50 NDCs, 24
Tonga indigenous minority community, 7 SADCs Industrialization Strategy, 25
Traditional adaptation mechanisms, 51 stakeholders, 25
Traditional agricultural communities, 4 Sustainable Development Goal, 25
Traditional knowledge systems, 78 UNFCC, 24
environmental assessments and policies, 14 Zimbabwe Programme for Economic and Social
Traditional pastoral systems, 13 Transformation (ZIMPREST), 29
Transformational approach pattern, 16 Zimbabwe’s Nationally Determined Contributions
Transitional Stabilisation Programme, 6 (NDCs), 24