Nyanga, Zimbabwe - A
decade ago Ndaizivei Nyamatsatse was the proud owner of 20 cows
- a number that made him the envy of his neighbours in
Zimbabwe's eastern province of Manicaland, where cattle are
prized as a symbol of wealth.
But recurring droughts forced the 45-year-old farmer to sell
some of his animals to buy food for his wife and six children.
Others have died from a lack of grazing and water, leaving
Nyamatsatse with only two cows.
Even they will not last long. Nyamatsatse plans to sell them
for cash to start a new life in the province's highlands region
or - better yet - in South Africa.
It's the last resort for the farmer, who started selling his
cattle after realising his family could not survive only on
vegetables from the garden or rely on food-for-work programmes
run by aid agencies.
"I have thought long and hard about this given the poor
rains and lack of food every year," Nyamatsatse told the Thomson
Reuters Foundation.
"I have to leave for the Eastern Highlands. The rains there
are better. If I can't find a place to settle, I've no choice
but to try my luck elsewhere," he said.
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Nyamatsatse is one of hundreds, if not thousands, of
Zimbabweans who have migrated or have considered migrating from
their ancestral lands over the past few years to escape
worsening drought linked to climate change.
The United Nations estimates that 4.1 million people in
Zimbabwe are in need of aid this year following a severe
drought, exacerbated by El Nino - a warming of sea surface
temperatures in the Pacific which can lead to scorching weather
in eastern and southern Africa.
The water situation is particularly critical in the south of
the country where water tables are fast receding. Most rivers,
dams, wells, and even some boreholes have dried up, locals say.
The most drought-affected parts of the country of 14.2
million people are Masvingo, Matebelaland North and South and
the Midlands, according to British charity Oxfam.
The new bond notes. Xinhua
"If a person realises they don't have food, the economy is
not performing around them, and that there are no economic
opportunities, they always try to find the next best
alternative, which is to move," said Joel Musarurwa, Oxfam
humanitarian programme coordinator.
New destinations
Neighbouring South Africa, the regional economic powerhouse,
has always been a draw for migrants from poorer African
countries. Stable Botswana and Namibia also have attracted
Zimbabwean migrants, desperate for work and a chance to send
money home.
But increasingly Zimbabweans are heading across the border
to Mozambique and Zambia - countries that once lagged behind
Zimbabwe in terms of development, healthcare and education.
Climate change is also forcing Zimbabweans to migrate to the
Middle East in search of jobs, the International Organization of
Migrations (IOM) said.
"This exposes some Zimbabweans to such vices as human
trafficking," said IOM Chief of Mission in Zimbabwe, Lily Sanya.
She said there were also growing numbers of Zimbabweans
migrating to East and West Africa.
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"Due to climate change, Zimbabwe is also increasingly
becoming a transit route for migrants from other countries such
as the Horn of Africa and Malawi heading to South Africa and
other parts of Africa," Sanya told the Thomson Reuters
Foundation.
Up to a third of households in Zimbabwe rely on remittances
within and outside the country as the primary means of support,
according to the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee
(Zimvac), a mixture of government, U.N. agencies and other
international organisations.
More than maize
The government and United Nations are seeking $352 million
for a humanitarian response plan, but only $192 million has been
committed so far.
Oxfam's Zimbabwe country director, Machinda Marongwe, said
urgent action was needed to meet people's food needs now, ensure
food markets were able to function effectively, and to help
people plant successfully as a new rainy season begins.
He said the government must work closely with donors to
support vulnerable communities to escape their dependence on
rain-fed agriculture and to build resilience to a changing
climate by encouraging farmers to diversify their crops.
"Mono-cropping continues to be perpetuated through implicit
and explicit policies such as inputs subsidies, floor prices and
import duties. Yet maize is particularly sensitive to weather
variability, which has exacerbated its poor performance in the
region," Marongwe said.
The government should include seeds to grow cowpeas, millet,
sorghum and bambara nuts in packages it distributes to farmers
because they require less water than the traditional staple,
maize, he added.
But for Nyamatsatse the future lies elsewhere.
"Agriculture is our lifeline but an increasingly dry climate
has repeatedly denied us good yields from the fields, no matter
sometimes what I grow," he said.
"There are no jobs, and I have nothing else to survive on."