A RESOLUTION FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROBLEM OF DROUGHT IN BULILIMA DISTRICT IN MATABELELAND
SOUTH PROVINCE OF ZIMBABWE

A RESOLUTION FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROBLEM OF DROUGHT IN BULILIMA DISTRICT IN MATABELELAND
SOUTH PROVINCE OF ZIMBABWE

PIOS NCUBE

Faced with recurrent droughts and other extreme weather events, subsistence farming
communities found in arid and semi-arid regions of the world have continuously utilized
inherent experiences and alternative livelihood sources to cope with adverse effects of an ever
changing climate. Clearly, there are two extreme ends in this narrative, with one extreme end
being climate change that has amplified the impact of extreme weather events such as drought
and the other extreme being the resilience of communities that are impacted by such weather
phenomena. Over the years, subsistence farmers have utilized their life experiences and
learning to cope with adverse effects of weather related extremes, yet such capabilities have
been overlooked in scientific research, policy and practice. There is a tendency to treat
subsistence farmers, who mostly are found in arid and semi-arid regions of the world; as
helpless victims of drought and other weather extremes, as passive recipients of knowledge.
Such farmers have over the years contributed to world knowledge through their experiential
learning by doing and they have perfected collaborative ways of building resilience to shocks.
More than 80% of their knowledge comes from daily experiences, insights and intuitions that
are then condensed into a complete world view capacities based resilience. These communities
have existed in such locations and regions without getting extinct.
Subsistence farmers in rural Zimbabwe in Bulilima district of Matabeleland South are
constantly at risk of drought and have lived with the recurrent phenomenon for many decades;
suffered food insecurity, livelihoods destruction, disrupted well-being because they are
dependent on rain-fed agriculture, yet they continue to live and exist in the same locations.
This study employed a Case Study method embedded in interpretivist paradigm and utilized
open ended household questionnaires and interview guide to generate data. Data generation
was guided by the principle of data saturation and data was analysed using emerging themes
on excel, human stories and through the use of NVivo.
The study revealed that participants were not passive victims of drought, as demonstrated by
various alternative livelihoods that they adopted in coping with the phenomenon. Some of the
adaptive coping strategies adopted by participants were; reduced meals per day, reliance on
casual labour, dependence on remittances, and to some extent participants utilized their own
production. Markets and wild fruits (wild foods gathering) also played a major role.
Participants were enterprising and innovative, and employed their indigenous knowledge
systems to predict weather patterns in the absence of conventional modern weather predictions.
The local communities adopted alternative livelihoods and income sources in order to cope
with drought

ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY

2017