A CHIVI Rural District Council official has said thousands of villagers in one of Masvingo province’s driest areas are in need of urgent assistance, as they face starvation due to a crippling drought.
BY STAFF REPORTER
The council will on Friday host a conference that will bring together leading figures from the area to harness resources, as part of efforts to avert the impending catastrophe. “For the last 20 years, we have never had a meaningful harvest and hundreds of thousands are facing starvation. We need to help and in particular, those of us from the area, who have done well in life,” Chivi RDC chairperson, Killer Zivhu told journalists yesterday.
Zivhu said this was just a stop-gap measure, but the long-term plan was to pool resources together from those, who can and other well-wishers from outside the district to help with the construction of a small dam.
“We are looking at raising either funds or grain in the region of about 20 000 bags. There are tens of thousands of orphans and old people, who are facing starvation because they have no idea, where the next meal will come from.
“Government and other well-wishers are doing their best, but as political leaders, sons and daughters of Chivi, we really need to come in and assist,” the Zimbabwe Amalgamated Housing Association director-general, said. He said council was looking at dam construction, as the small catchment areas in each village could be used to store water for use during the dry season.
“It is time we concentrated more on irrigated crops than rain-fed. Ours is a very short rainy season, but most of our crops, especially maize, do not take more than three months to ripen. The small catchment areas, if managed properly, can last up to four months. So in this regard, we are also asking for help in the form of building materials,” Zivhu said
