Harare — IT is now the in-thing for able-bodied people to migrate from rural Chiredzi in the southern part of Zimbabwe bordering South Africa either to seek off-farm employment as an income supplement or to move to areas for greater opportunities inside one of Africa's largest economies.

Young girls and boys of school-going age are trekking down south to look for jobs to support their families back home.

The situation is getting worse as most schools in this dry and marginal district have closed down because of the year-long strike by teachers due to poor salaries and working conditions.

A drought which ravaged most parts of the country last year has added to the woes.

But this is now having a negative impact on household food security particularly for smallholder family farms.

Migration may increase income but at the cost of reduced farm labour resulting in depressed farm productivity.

The difficult economic situation in Zimbabwe coupled with challenges in the education and health care delivery sectors is increasing trends to migrate and to work off- farm.

In this drought-prone district, the wider these pressures and their effects are felt, the greater the probability of reduced farm productivity impacting on food security at the household level.

There is a gender dimension to all of this.

It is men who are increasingly migrating to seek off-farm employment.

This is leading to far-reaching changes to household structures and, in cases of long-term or permanent migration, economic and social changes.

The Shangani women are increasingly being left with the task of farm management, including having to overcome production constraints, mainly from lost labour inputs of husbands, brothers and other male workers.

Such changes are also occurring in most farming communities along the south-western part of Zimbabwe bordering Botswana and Namibia creating many of the same issues.

Little research has been done regarding these changes, their impacts and farm management.

Male migration has a greater effect on gender roles and women's empowerment.

Among the Shangani people of Chiredzi, men traditionally dominate in decisions related to farm operations and crop management, while women are custodians of household food security and dominate in household decisions.

But times are changing.

More women are also migrating leaving everything to the elderly women and man to look after homes and young children.

Cross-border trade is dominated by women and this has to some extent led to a decline in the labour participation of principal females.

In households in which the principal males left, the principal females took over the management of farms -- looking for seed, ploughing, herding cattle and goats, rearing rabbits and chickens as well maintenance of homes.

Most women say they desperately need simple technologies that can be used to alleviate production constraints caused by labour shortages.

This, they say, will help them to manage their smallholder farms.

Most of the people interviewed say remittance earnings and non-farm income comprised a larger share than farm income of the total household income in Chiredzi.

Most of the income was spent on food and health while a small amount was devoted to clothing, farm inputs, house repair/construction, debt repayments and drugs for cattle.

"Our children are migrating because they see this as an escape route from poverty and as a survival strategy out of the economic and political challenges facing Zimbabwe," said Dingane Chauke, an elderly figure at a seed fair that was held in the Mupunga area under Chief Svovane in Chiredzi.

"Drought and hunger have made our life miserable. Our children are going out to work in mines and farms in South Africa so that they can send some food and money to us. In all these schools, there is no one, they have all gone."

The push factors of rural migration are poverty, low income from grains (sorghum, millet, maize), lack of jobs, low wages for village-level jobs, economic hardships and other natural calamities such as drought, floods and outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease.

The Shangani people value their cattle highly and any losses may push them to go and work in South Africa to raise money to replace the lost herd.

"My son, I have no one to help to till the land. My three sons and two daughters are all working in farms in South Africa," said Mariana Vutakana an elderly woman from Chief Svovane's area.

"I cannot till the land that much. I'm old and with my sore legs, it's becoming difficult to work as I used to do in the past. We need small machines to help us grow food. There is no labour here any more."

Africa and many other developing countries are facing challenges to manage migration so that it can serve as a force for growth and development.

In the southern Africa sub-region, migration issues are hot and countries such as South Africa and Botswana are battling to stem the influx of migrants without proper documentation.

Botswana hosted an estimated 14 000 migrant workers in 2008, according to Central Statistics Office survey results released in January this year.

The Botswana survey indicated that Zimbabweans recorded the highest number of employee work permit holders 5 470 or 58,8 percent followed by the Chinese with 898 persons or 9,7 percent.

The smallest number was Ghanaians with 61 persons at 0,7 percent.

Rising tension between foreign migrants and locals sparked a wave of social violence in South Africa last year and a number of Zimbabweans were killed.

Cases of xenophobia were also reported in Botswana and analysts say these problems are not unique to South Africa and Botswana.

They say most rich and affluent countries are also facing challenges of integrating foreigners.

According to the International Organisation for Migration 2008 report, all six regions of the world are witnessing intense or growing migratory activities.

The United Nations agency says African migrants predominantly move to other African countries, with Southern Africa, the Maghreb and West Africa being the sub-regions most affected by labour mobility in Africa.

The Middle East hosts 18,8 million migrants, Africa 16,9 million, South America 6,6 million with Oceania having the least at 5 million.

Remittances sent through official channels estimated to have reached US$337 billion in 2007, a 99 percent increase over the figures from 2002.

Out of US$337 billion remitted in 2007, a total of US$ 251 billion went to developing countries.

But with the raging global financial crisis the plight of migrants will be dire and remittances will plunge reducing substantially the contribution of migrants to home country development through the transfer of knowledge, skills and investment.

Rescue packages in rich industrialised nations will not benefit the poor in the Global South.

The bail-out plans will benefit people in rich countries and few migrants who are the first casualties of the turmoil in the labour market.

"Ultimately, unless the gains of globalisation are uniform, efforts by affluent countries to successfully stem formal and informal migration will remain a permanent nivarna," said John Akokpari in a paper on globalisation and migration in Africa.

Supporting smallholder farmers in rural areas such as the elderly Shangani parents and women left behind with agricultural inputs, low cost farm technologies and training can reduce dependence on donors and help enhance household food security.

Growing crops suitable to the agro-ecological conditions in this dry region such as pearl millet and sorghum can help reduce the number of hunger-months for the smallholder farmers before donors come to their rescue.

And, it seems migration has brought mixed fortunes for smallholder farming communities in Chiredzi.

Most farmers say food security at the household level will improve when the general economic conditions improve in the country.

Most people interviewed felt strongly that if economic conditions improve here, they will not migrate.

They say they will stay and till the land.

But for now, as things are, many could only dream and hope for a future with a decent livelihood