Beitbridge minority farmer communities and climate change: prospects for sustainability

Abstract

Indigenous minority farmer communities in Beitbridge district of Zimbabwe are on the cutting edge of climate change and climate vulnerability. This chapter assesses through questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions how these communities are triangulating their indigenous knowledge systems, government and NGOs initiatives to achieve sustainability. Results reveal that although the farmers are appreciative of external assistance through government and NGOs assistance, such assistance can only be sustainable provided it is built around their indigenous knowledge systems which they hold sacrosanct. The study therefore recommends more use of the abundant natural resources in Beitbridge and The district’s competitive advantage is a rich livestock district. The community identifies itself with these resources, so all developmental endeavours should coalesce around these resources for sustained social, economic and environmental growth as a cushion against the climate change phenomenon and associated threats. All such efforts should be community driven rather than being imported from central government or NGO headquarters or country offices. The resilient and hardworking qualities of these communities need not be destroyed by food aid and free farming input hand-outs. Instead, these qualities should be utilised to drive community development initiatives for household livelihood sustainability.