Following the declaration of the current El Nino-induced drought as a state of national disaster by President Mnangagwa, Government has reassured the nation no one will die of hunger.
The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) and its partners, the Finnish Red Cross (FRC) and the Danish Red Cross gird their loins to ensure food security and combat malnutrition in some of the most affected districts like Binga, Matabeleland North.
The drought has left more than seven million people food insecure.
The partners have been implementing a climate resilience project in Siansunzu and Saba wards in Binga district from 2022-2025 which aims to tackle the increased frequency and severity of disasters due to climate change, which predominantly affect vulnerable groups and disrupt food security and livelihoods.
One of beneficiaries of the project, a pregnant mother at a mothers' shelter at Siansundu Clinic Mrs Memosi Muzamba (24) from Siachilaba Village in Ward 11 told The Herald that she and her colleagues who are waiting to give birth are now guaranteed of good health and giving birth to healthy babies as they have fresh vegetables from the key hole garden which the community set up for them.
Statistics show that in April alone four cases of malnutrition among children were recorded at Siansundu Clinic with nine patients having been recorded since January, further increasing the risk of stunted growth among them.
According to the Global Nutrition Report, Zimbabwe is on course to meet targets for maternal, infant and young child nutrition.
However, little progress has been made towards achieving low birth weight with 12.6 percent of infants having a low birth weight.
"The country is on course to meet the target for stunting with 23.5 percent of children under five years of age being affected," noted the report.
"I live more than 30km away and have been here at the Mothers' Shelter for the past four weeks. Getting fresh vegetables is a challenge in this dry area, but thanks to the efforts of the community, we have green vegetables, tomatoes and carrots from this key hole garden which does not use lots of water," said Mrs Muzamba.
One of the methods the project is using in the district is the key-hole garden, a climate-smart adaptation initiative where a nutrition gardening method ideal in dry areas like Binga is being implemented to ensure vulnerable villagers like pregnant/lactating mothers and children are food secure.
Almost every homestead in the two wards which have a critical water shortage has a key hole garden, a method that solely depends on recycled water.
A mother of one who is among the beneficiaries of the climate resilience project being implemented by Government's auxiliary, the ZRCS and its partners, Ms Vivian Saba (35) from Saba Village said this year has not been different from other years that have recorded minimum rainfall.
"This year is even worse than the previous years. Hunger is all over our district, and this has further buoyed me to seriously concentrate on my keyhole garden. I am guaranteed of fresh vegetables and good nutrition for my family. I am grateful to Government for sending the Red Cross to help train us on how to adapt to this climate change," said Ms Saba.
Mr Dube Mukombwe (42) of Simwenge Village in Ward 9, another beneficiary of the project also confirmed the poor rainfall that was received in the 2023-24 agriculture season in their area.
"As part of the climate resilience project, I also received a rain gauge which I used to record the actual rainfall we received in our local area. From the readings I made, our area received just 200ml of rain this past season.
"The result of this was poor germination of seed with the little seed that germinated drying off due to moisture stress," said Mr Mukombwe.
He said the key hole garden at his homestead has become a life saver as they are guaranteed of nutritious relish for his family and neighbours.
"I have also started doing a small nursery for the community keyhole garden at Siansundu Clinic and other community members.
In an interview, the ZRCS secretary general Mr Elias Hwenga said the project offers practical methods for implementing climate-smart Disaster Risk Reduction and livelihood activities at community level.
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"It has three strategic goals: ensuring people can anticipate, respond to, and recover quickly from crises; enabling people to lead safe, healthy, and dignified lives with opportunities to prosper; and encouraging people to foster inclusive and peaceful communities.
"This project is crucial given the challenges posed by erratic weather patterns and their impact on communities. These climate changes have heralded disasters that continue to impact negatively on the communities and causing serious shortages and lowering livelihood income-generating projects.
It is against this background that the climate-smart intervention seeks to build capacities of targeted communities and institutions to effectively prepare food for, withstand, respond to and recover from climate-induced disasters and crises.
"The project will also offer mitigatory measures aimed at addressing the climate change issues.
"This will largely be achieved by rolling out early warning and early action in the communities," said Mr Hwenga.
