Smallholder farmers in Chimanimani have realized the importance of protecting wetlands as a way of conserving the natural ecosystem.
One of the farmers, Ellah Maringe-Musukutwa (62) says the population in Chimanimani was increasing and this was forcing some people to encroach into wetlands. Ellah is one of the 60 smallholder farmers working to protect the wetlands in the Chikukwa community. Ellah says they started to fence the wetland in 2017 but they stopped after their work was destroyed by Cyclone Idai. This time the community is working with PELUM Zimbabwe member, Chikukwa Ecological Land Use Community Trust (CELUCT).
Ellah explains that the farmers joined together because of their concerns that the wetlands could be destroyed by human settlement and increased agricultural activities. She adds on to say that they fenced the wetland using barbed wire and poles made from an invasive species of gumtree known as Mupesepese – a local name given to the invasive tree species because it grows anywhere.
The fencing project is a collective effort with the farmers volunteering their labour and using local materials. Ellah describes how the farmers and CELUCT contributed funds towards the project costs.
“We used barbed wire from CELUCT to fence the wetland. We also used poles from gumtrees, Mupesepese, and Mutsunguni tree species to provide support to the barbed wire. More so, we contributed 1 USD per person for us to purchase cutting equipment. The reason why we used Mutsunguni is that the pole tree species will also grow to provide shade and shelter for other small insects,” says Ellah.
Patience Sithole (53), who is the Field officer at CELUCT working with the smallholder farmers, in fencing the wetland, says using invasive species as fencing poles has the added benefit of reducing the threat of invasive species to the natural ecosystem.
Patience says the area they want to fence is 17 hectares. Currently, they have fenced eight hectares. This, she says is work in progress and she is pleased with what farmers are doing to protect wetlands.
Noah Kenneth Nemakonde (68) is another smallholder farmer working with Ellah. Noah explains the benefits of wetlands. He says wetlands provide water which helps them to produce food.
“Wetlands are very important to our lives as they provide water all year round and improve the water quality. This contributes to increased yields. They also make us resilient to the changing climate, “says Noah.
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