Smallholder farmers in Matabeleland South province, Zimbabwe are losing their livestock as persistent food insecurity forces them to barter trade cattle for grain.
Methar Nyathi (51), a smallholder farmer from Umzingwane district says although she grew sorghum, her harvest could only support her family for six months. In order to secure grain for the rest of the year she had to barter trade her cattle.
“I used to produce an average of 250kg of sorghum per year on my 1 hectare plot which is adjacent my homestead…This amount of grain could only last for six months or less. I had to rely on other means of acquiring grain such as barter trading with livestock,” says Methar.
“Although livestock is one of our sources of income their numbers continue to dwindle as we barter for grain. Climate change has affected our livelihoods to a greater extent,” adds Methar.
Methar is one of the many cattle farmers in Matabeleland South province who during droughts are forced to sell cattle for as little as US$90, the value of 100 kilogrammes of grain when barter traded. The grain enables Methar to provide at least one meal per day during the hunger season and drought periods.
Methar says the primary cause of the poor harvests was the inappropriate and unsuitable agricultural practices that she employed. “I practiced conventional agriculture,” she says.
Many farmers in Zimbabwe are still trapped in conventional farming which has thousands of farmers across the country stuck in a vicious cycle of poverty. Methar says it is the escape from conventional farming which has given him hope of feeding her family and saving her cattle.
This escape came through training in agroecology facilitated by PELUM Zimbabwe Member, Jekesa Pfungwa Vulingqondo (JPV).
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