From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: ZIMBABWE: FARMERS LOOK UP TO THE SKY FOR AN END TO THE DROUGHT
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 01:09:35 GMT

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Reference: Agriculture
Title: ZIMBABWE: FARMERS LOOK UP TO THE SKY FOR AN END TO THE DROUGHT


an inter press service feature

by godfrey karoro

nyanga, zimbabwe, oct 7 (ips) -- nyautari village, like other
villages in nyanga, 260 km north-east of harare, the zimbabwean
capital, normally gets some rain beginning in september.

by this time of the year the vegetation should be lush and
green, and the dams should be filling up with rain water.

but up to now the skies are still cloudless, not only in
nyanga (near the border with mozambique), but in the rest of
zimbabwe where rains are now expected.

the dry conditions prevailing in nyautari are now catching
up with the adjacent nyanga tourist resort, rich with perennial
cool-to-mild temperatures and showers.

''the elders have brewed (traditional) beer to appease the
spirits, and the churches have organised prayer days to ask for
rain from the almighty'', signet chapu told ips.

''if we do not have rains again this year, then that will be
the end of us'', says chapu.

married with nine children, chapu is seriously considering
pullling out the eldest son from school as he cannot afford to
pay fees for all of them.

chapu has sold most of his livestock (goats and cattle) to
buy grain for his family as he does not qualify for drought
relief food because he has a job.

the remaining livestock, he says, are so thin that nobody is
willing to buy them. official figures show about 300,000 heads
of cattle have died in the current drought.

besides tourism -- which last year earned the country 86
million u.s. dollars -- nyanga is zimbabwe's largest producer of
deciduous fruit trees, timber, trout fish and flowers, most of
which are exported to neighboring countries and europe.

chapu's employer, who grows peaches and apples on his 60-ha
farm, now carts in his van buckets and drums of water from
a nearby dam to irrigate his trees as the level of water is too
low to be pumped.

r. coventry, who chairs th nyanga intensive conservation area
(ica), says farming activities have been severely affected by
the prevailing drought gripping the whole of the southern
africa sub-region. (more/ips)


zimbabwe: farmers (2)

''farmers have lost about a third of their (gum and
eucalyptus) tree plantations'', says the chair of the ica, an
independent environmental watchdog for the natural resources
board.

coventry says because of the severe drought, the ica is
turning a blind eye and no longer strictly enforces regulations
against streambank cultivation.

to prevent river and dam siltation, cultivating land 30 metres
or less from flood banks is prohibited in zimbabwe.

the general manager of the 3,000-ha clairmont orchards -- the
country's biggest producer of apples, trout fish and peaches --
says last year nyanga only received 18 percent of normal
rainfall which resulted in an 80 percent drop in production.

''although the government has made 400 million zimbabwe
dollars (80 million u.s. dollars) available to alleviate drought
effects, this is not enough'', says kevin ackerman.

however, many farmers are not able to get money from the
commercial banks to finance their activities due to the
liquidity squeeze resulting from implementation of world bank
and international monetary fund-sponsored austerity measures.

a district development committee was set up recently in
nyanga to help the farmers.

the committee, which brings together commercial and communal
farmers, officials from the district office and the department
of natural resources, is now mapping out plans to assist them to
build dams and drill boreholes.

''if we have another drought this seson, production could go
down by as much as 50 percent and it could take up to two years
before the situation gets back to normal even if we get good
rains this year'', adds ackerman. (end/ips/gk/apc/92)