Resettled farmers breathe life into dying landscape

Nelson Mudzingwa (51) a smallholder farmer from Shashe in Masvingo Province. Nelson is also the director for one of the 7 partners of the Zimbabwe Seed Sovereignty Programme (ZSSP), Zimbabwe Small Holder Organic Farmers' Forum (ZSSP). Nelson has developed an intricate water harvesting system in his homestead. One of the most effective ways he has adopted to ensure cross learning with other farmers in his area is organizing a party in his home for friends where food and beer is prepared. The friends come to help with the labour, during these “parties” farmers also discuss, share and exchange knowledge. Photo: Theophilus Mudzindiko/PELUM Zimbabwe

Setting up water harvesting structures takes time. It calls for patience, collective action and the cultivation of a deep relationship with the land. Despite the hard work involved in setting up water harvesting systems, smallholder farmers say the practice transforms landscapes even in drought prone areas.

One such farmer who is enjoying the fruits of hard labour is Nelson Mudzigwa (51). Nelson lives in Shashe located in Masvingo province, Zimbabwe. He is a member of the Shashe Agroecology School, a collective of smallholder farmers practising agroecology on approximately 184 hectares.

Nelson settled in Shashe during Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Programme in year 2000 on a piece of land measuring approximately 32 hectares, 12 hectares of this land is arable. He says when he first arrived to settle in Shashe, the land was dry and degraded.

“We found lots of Julbernardia and the Combretum species as well as the marula trees. These are trees that grow in very dry areas. Between year 2000 and 2006 the yields were very low because there was a lot of soil erosion. Very little water infiltrated into the soils,“ says Nelson.

To prevent water runoff, Nelson setup dead level contours and earth dams to harvest water. He left the trees to grow on the contour lines and on the earth dams so that they hold back the soil. He integrated vertiver grass to minimise soil erosion.

“In the arable land we have nine earth dams and in the grazing area we have three earth dams. All the dams are connected in the arable land by a contour line. Our longest contour is almost 700 metres long, cutting across the arable land and connecting to homesteads. We have other contours that are less than 200 metres long. These contours are connected to the earth dams,” explains Nelson.

His strategy is that once the contours are filled up, they drain excess water into connected earth dams. The earth dams store enough water that can even feedback to the dead level contours. The earth dams are on average 15m diameter, 7 m radius and 2 m deep and they are designed in the form of an arch. The contours are 1 m wide and 1 m deep.

“Our coming actually changed the whole situation. Old Marula trees that we thought had passed the fruit bearing stage are now producing fruits. They are evergreen,” says Nelson.

It has taken Nelson and farmers in Shashe two decades to transform the landscape. The transformation on the landscape is evident as visitors enter the Shashe Agroecological School. Nelson says their collective goal as farmers is to conserve the Runde catchment area.

But he admits that setting up water harvesting systems is a laborious process requiring a collective approach.

“It doesn’t’ happen overnight. Up to today the work is still ongoing. For example, maintenance of the water harvesting system is crucial particularly during the rainy season,” he says.

Water harvesting at landscape level requires all farmers to participate not just an individual farmer. “The farmer must guard the soil and water to make sure that there is no war between the two,” says Nelson.