From just a subsistence farmer
to a business man
Moscow Machegula proudly smiles as he stands in his tuck shop which he recently operationalised, pointing to all the commodities he is now selling to other community members.
He confidently holds recently harvested ground nuts in his hands and proudly exclaims,
“I am now doing value addition to the ground nuts I am farming, and this year, I am expecting 100 buckets. We only used to get 5 buckets before the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund’s (ZRBF) Enhancing Community Resilience and Sustainability (ECRAS) programme project came in 2016. I also package 2kg packs of small grain seeds to sell to farmers during the farming season. We only used to get about 5 buckets but now we have enough to sell to other villages.”
Moscow, a model farmer under the ZRBF ECRAS Project, embraced training on layered and sequenced approaches to crop and livestock management, diversified livelihoods and income generation which has turned around his life thus helping him to build resilience against shocks and stresses such as drought.
Like his parents before him, Moscow was living in poverty and could not afford basic food stuff and had for years failed to build his homestead to accommodate his big family of seven. He was among the villagers that ended up without livestock, due to the dry spells which led to the death of several livestock in the last decade.
“Life was hard for our family and we always quarreled over many issues including money,” exclaimed Moscow’s wife.
There was no hope for their children and taking them through University was a dream that he didn’t even think could come true, seeing he could not even afford enough food for his household.
“Life was hard for my family because we were not educated. The government and organisations like CARE used to help us with food for the family and for our livestock, but this was also never enough. Our region is very dry and the most I got from my farm was 10 buckets of maize and small grains. My granary was never full. In 2002 I lost most of the cattle I had and was left with two. These also eventually died, so we had nothing,” lamented Moscow.
Moscow’s homestead is in ward 1 of Mwenezi District located about 8km from Neshuro township, 5km from the Masvingo – Beitbridge highway. Ward 1 is located in the north western part of the District and is in the Southern Cattle and Central Farming economic zone with erratic and poor rainfall distribution and very high temperatures. The ward is located in Region IV and V which receives low rainfall that ranges from less than 450mm to 600mm/annum with frequent seasonal droughts and severe dry spells, suitable for semi-extensive farming based on livestock, drought tolerant small grain and fodder crops.
Before the introduction of ZRBF interventions in 2016, the community was losing over 70% of its crops and livestock due to drought and other disasters.
Moscow participated in diversified livelihoods including goat breeding, legume and small grain production which has allowed his village to have food and income to buy other assets to expand their livelihoods.
“Through PSP (participatory scenario planning) we were taught not to rely on one thing. So now, if we don’t manage to produce much in the farm, I know I am earning income at the shop, and if that is not working due to economic hardships, I know I can sell my cattle to get by. I am now a business man.
“Today I am actually selling one of my cows to pay school fees for my daughter who is now in the university studying to be a Pharmacist, she is finishing school this year and I am very pleased. ECRAS really came at the right time just when she was about to finish high school. It’s rare and not easy to send a child through university from the village but those who used to laugh at me no longer laugh and they are coming to ask me for advice,” said Moscow.
ECRAS also introduced his community to fodder production, livestock feed processing and preservation. Through livestock protection mechanisms, he was taught the importance of rearing livestock for business.
“A lot of livestock died in our village. My family were left with two cattle that we also lost due to drought in 2002. This dissuaded us from livestock rearing. Since then, I was not able to buy cattle. I no longer had chickens, goats and turkeys, I sold them for fees. But now I have also been able to buy livestock using the money I am earning from selling small grains. And I am now able to run this shop in the village,” said Moscow.
ECRAS also helped the community to better plan for and identify strategies to deal with these recurring disasters through participatory scenario planning and disaster risk reduction. Identifying hazards before they occur has helped the community to feel more prepared for the future.
The community has been able to increase and safe guard their assets like cattle due to education on fodder production. Moscow explained that the education was timely seeing the grazing land is slowly diminishing due to new settlements so this has transformed the community’s livelihoods.
“Now we have 8 cows and no cow has died from hunger because we were taught how to prepare food for our livestock. It moved us from grade zero to grade seven,” jokes Moscow.
Diversification of business has increased resilience not only for Moscow and his family but the community as a whole.
While pointing to his homestead which consists of a hut, four roomed modern house, a raised goat pen, a modern fowl run and a modern granary and store room Moscow adds, “Since ECRAS started in 2016 I was able to build a proper homestead with these five structures through small grains such as sorghum macia, and pearl millet okashana which they gave us as seed, this was only a dream.”
“With the knowledge I have been given, I am also imparting it to others. After I was equipped with seed and produced good yields, I also start giving out to other farmers so that they also grow velvet bean for livestock feed and small grains to feed their families. Last year I gave around 50kg of seed away to people from my shop. I gave 2kg each so that other community members can also plant small grains and keep some for seed.”
ECRAS through a layered and sequenced approach which involves crop and livestock management, income generation has turned around the fortunes of Neshuro community helping communities to build resilience against future shocks and stresses such as drought.
“From Mukachana to Bukuvani, I am teaching people in different villages including youths. I have taught around 200 people and I continue to teach more and more so that people are equipped instead of begging for food,” he boasted.
“I also have a mill to my name which is adding on to my income. I also use it to mill my own grains. I would like to acquire another machine which can help me process some small grains to sell. I am planning to have a transition in my life. I also want to buy a car next year because I am now done paying school fees for my children. This will also help me to travel to shops in town to stock up my shop easily,” said enthusiastic Moscow.
By Pauline Hurungudo