Creating climate resilience – securing food supplies

LandsAid employee Raquel Nerger talks about her visit to the Chimanimani project region in Zimbabwe

Strengthening the resilience of the population

Climate conference in Baku

November 2024 – The 29th UN Climate Change Conference is currently meeting in Baku. The media are urging the global community to step up climate protection efforts. Meanwhile, many communities are already suffering greatly from the consequences of the climate crisis. Long periods of drought or severe flooding are causing harvests to fail more frequently and many people are losing their food supply.

Desertification, cyclones and drought – countries in Africa are far more affected by the consequences of climate change than industrialized nations. Many regions of Zimbabwe are also experiencing far less rainfall than usual. El Nino has also caused severe dryness and drought. According to media reports, local farmers are only able to harvest just over half of their planned harvests.

To increase the resilience of the population in rural regions of Zimbabwe to the consequences of climate change and to improve the food situation in the long term: This is the aim of our current project. We have been supporting our local project partner TSURO Trust since the beginning of November 2023 in the implementation of agroecological practices and various measures to improve nutrition. They are aimed at rural communities and families in eight districts in Chimanimani (eastern highlands of Zimbabwe). As a result of climate change, significantly less food can be produced there. Many people are chronically undernourished. Women and children are particularly affected.

In October, our project manager Raquel Nerger visited the TSURO team and the participating smallholders in the project region. She visited the various project stations and reported on the activities on site. The project is based on various pillars:

Improving agricultural production is an important goal for food security. Cultivation methods should therefore be adapted to the consequences of climate change in the long term. „We are trying to achieve this through various activities,“ says Raquel. „The participants in the project are organized into groups to tackle each activity together,“ she explains.

One way of increasing agricultural production is to set up special competence and training centers. „Here, agroecological farming methods are demonstrated and passed on in such a way that as many members of the community as possible are reached,“ explains Raquel. The centers are currently being gradually established with the help of so-called ‚lead farmers‘. The training courses will begin on a large scale next year, once all the competence centers have been set up.

Secondly, the participating groups create and manage community gardens. Each member has a certain number of beds and cultivates them for their own use: Cabbages, leafy vegetables, pumpkins, tomatoes and corn. Fruit trees are added later. The harvests are intended for the family’s own use. Any surplus will be sold. „I was particularly impressed by the ‚Chitsokoti‘ group,“ says Raquel. „The members already had their garden before the project started. But because there was no fence, there was no success: The plants were eaten away by goats and cows.“ The members of the group approached TSURO and were selected as project participants. „They then tilled and planted the land in record time,“ says Raquel. They were given the appropriate gardening tools beforehand. LandsAid is also supporting the purchase of five water tanks and the construction of a water dam in the river, including a water drainage system. „Due to the devastating Cyclone Idai in 2019, some river courses have changed,“ explains Raquel. „As a result, tributaries and pipes had to be laid to the cultivated areas, which made the project work more difficult.“

In order to achieve a balanced diet, the project supports so-called „health clubs“, which already existed in the region. The plan is to organize additional activities such as cooking demonstrations and nutrition festivals and training sessions. The aim is to demonstrate: How can the harvested produce be processed? How can they be prepared in a delicious way?

However, good nutrition can only help to improve health if hygiene measures are implemented and there is a supply of clean water and safe sanitation. Only then can infections and illnesses, such as diarrhea, be prevented. „If people, especially children, have frequent gastrointestinal infections, their nutritional status cannot improve,“ emphasizes Raquel. To bring about an improvement here, four water points are to be drilled and water kiosks built. „Planning for the boreholes has already begun,“ says Raquel. The health clubs will use competitions to promote the implementation of hygiene measures and the establishment of safe sanitation.

In addition, income-generating measures are to be promoted. To this end, the further processing of agricultural products is supported – with the aim of achieving a higher market value. Agricultural machinery and equipment such as threshers, oil presses and solar dryers are distributed to the various groups in return for a personal contribution of ten percent. With the help of a solar dryer, for example, a profit of 4 US dollars per day can be achieved with dried vegetables. Networking between producers and buyers is supported by joint meetings. Trading platforms and training courses are also provided. The creation of fish ponds is another income-generating measure that also improves the availability of protein-rich foods. On average, 1,300 young fish are introduced into the pond and then continuously fed. „After six months, everything is harvested,“ reports Raquel. „The remaining water is then very rich in nutrients and is drained over the fields. The group members receive 3.50 to four US dollars per kilo – demand is high.“ The individual groups have set up their own savings groups in order to be able to set aside capital – for example for maintenance work on the machines or to be able to grant their members small loans.

Special campaigns are planned to sensitize the community to climate change. They are intended to help improve awareness of climate change and implement measures to protect the environment and natural resources. So far, youth groups have taken structural measures against erosion on their own initiative and are already sharing their knowledge with their community. The project is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ ) and Aktion Deutschland Hilft (ADH).

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Urgent help needed

Help us to support the smallholder farmers in the Chimanimani project area in Zimbabwe who are affected by climate change and severe drought and to improve their food situation in the long term. Thank you very much!

Due to limited rainfall caused by climate change and the resulting fluctuations, agricultural production has shrunk significantly in large parts of Zimbabwe. A changing climate and the resulting extreme weather events pose a direct threat to public infrastructure in the Chimanimani project area. Climate change is causing a sharp reduction in the amount of water in rivers, siltation of rivers and dams, reduced underground water sources (insufficient water supply for people and animals), more frequent occurrence of cyclones and heat waves, destruction of grazing land and, last but not least, conflicts in the communities. 66% of households were affected by drought in 2022. There is a high level of food insecurity.

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2024-11-25T13:28:13+00:00

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