Communities in Matabeleland that once relied on natural sources for food and income are watching their resources vanish as climate change alters weather patterns.
The seasonal harvest of wild fruits and mopane worms (amacimbi), once a dependable economy for rural families, has become unpredictable, cutting off vital nutrition, income and cultural continuity.
Michelle Dube, a villager from Nyandeni in Gwanda, said wild fruits they used to depend on are no longer available.
“We have trees such as uxakuxaku we used to enjoy during this season of the year, we would even sell it by the roadside but this year it’s not there. Its fruits withered when they were still young. There are also wild fruits umsuma, we don’t know whether it was due to plenty rainfall as well but there are no fruits,” Dube said.
She added that trees are sprouting later than usual due to shifting weather patterns in Gwanda.
In Plumtree, Mandla Tshuma, who once ran a thriving amacimbi business, said his livelihood has been destroyed.
“Climate change has destroyed my business, I used to sell amacimbi and I had so many customers here in Zimbabwe, South Africa and even in United Kingdom. I was overwhelmed but because of climate change amacimbi are nowhere to be seen today, they are no more in Plumtree,” Tshuma said.
“We are praying and hoping that seasons might change and amacimbi will resurface again but at the moment there is no amacimbi, there is no business but customers are still there and they keep asking when they will be there because I was selling good quality macimbi. This shows that climate change is not a talk show kind of thing but it is a reality, it is affecting us and we are feeling the pinch even today.”
Gender and climate change expert Zibusiso Moyo from Lupane said rural livelihoods have been heavily affected.
“Rural economy mostly depend on rainfall, subsistence farming, and we get surplus, but now it’s for eating and it’s still not enough,” she said.
“Also when it comes to wild fruits, uxakuxaku, imkhemeswane and all that, it’s livelihood for rural communities but due to climate change, it has really affected the rural economy, and women bearing the brunt mostly. I think incremental adjustments are needed so that women anticipate and have early warning systems and they know what to do because this time we had a lot of rainfall, so they need that knowledge in terms of what crops to plant.”
Constentine Moyo, Programmes Manager at Matobo Youth Development Initiative (MYDI) and a climate justice advocate, echoed similar concerns.
“The main issue is that climate change has affected rural economies because they use traditional methods of farming which can no longer produce the yields that used to be realised by smallholder farmers. So there has been acute food shortages because of failure to adapt by the farmers,” he said.
He noted that rural economies are primarily dependent on rain-fed agriculture.
“One of the indicators of the failure of rain-fed agriculture is that many fields that used to be cultivated by smallholder farmers are fields that are no longer fenced and cultivated. Previously, smallholder farmers used to possess more than a hectare of land but now people are only able to cultivate an acre of land or less,” he added.
Moyo warned that migration is rising as able-bodied villagers leave for urban areas and neighbouring countries.
“Due to climate change, more and more people are no longer able to make a living, so this has led to loss of human capital and brain drain,” he said.
He added that while villagers are turning to irrigation to cope, this is creating new pressures.
“Due to climate change, villagers are shifting to use ground water for food production through irrigation, however this has put a lot of stress on the quantity of ground water that can be accessed. High temperatures also lead to plants suffering from heat stress hence reducing the quantity of the yields.”
Chief Khulumani Mathema of Gwanda highlighted the growing uncertainty among villagers.
“They are no longer sure of what to farm because everything seems to be not doing so well and the rain comes when they least expect. Villagers are no longer even able to sell maize,” he said.
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