The Impact of Floods and Droughts on Food Security

The findings of this study show that floods and droughts are real in Muzarabani (Chadereka and Kapembere), Chadereka being more prone to both floods and droughts, while Kapembere is affected by droughts only. In Chadereka, floods washed away arable lands as well as crops and this resulted in massive shortages of food. Respondents from the study areas also highlight that droughts are associated with high temperatures which cause a high spread of pest and diseases and wilting of crop plants. All these negative factors lead to acute food shortages since productivity will have been reduced. During the focus group discussions, I asked different categories of the respondents on how floods and droughts could result in reduced crop productivity. Respondents highlighted that when there is drought, the temperature will be very high (approximately 39-41 degrees) and crop plants die instantly. There will also be a high spread of pests and diseases which cause plants to die prematurely. Residents are also affected by diseases such as malaria and headaches. These diseases hinder the residents’ ability to work

in their fields and at the end, productivity is compromised. Respondents also reported that floods do not only wash away crops but they also lead to a high spread of diseases which will deter farmers from carrying out their day to day agricultural activities. Respondents further highlighted that drought forces people to sell their livestock and property at low prices.

Households will end up remaining with few livestock to sell so that they can buy food.

W omen in the focus group discussions also highlighted the fact that droughts have made them produce poor quality groundnuts yet they used to rely on this crop to earn income and be able to buy food. Grains that will be produced are o f poor quality if the plants do not die prematurely.

Thus, floods and droughts “have significant impacts on agricultural production” (Cobon, Ewai, Inape and Bourke, 2016: 151). Furthermore, floods and droughts exacerbate their suffering.

Crops are washed away during floods and you will not have enough seed to replant.

Respondents said that their crops also die early due to insufficient rainfall.

During focus group discussions with the elderly, one o f the respondents said:

This year, in F ebruary andM arch, it only rained twice, i f I am not m istaken and, there w as a high spread o f a certain p la n t p e s t that is com m only called

‘A m e ric a n ’. The p e s t is yellow a n d has destroyed crops in m any fields. Now I have nothing w ith w hich to fe e d m y grandchildren. One o f these grandchildren is H IV p ositive as he contracted it fr o m the m other w ho w as also positive. I am not able to do p ie ce jo b s these days because I am sick. In addition, they sto pp ed g o in g to school since I s o ld cattle as w e h a d to p a y the deb t to CO TTCO w hich h a d given us cotton inputs. N ow w e have nothing in our hands, because we h a d to repay the am ount w e ow ed CO TTCO after selling our cattle23.

The foregoing explanation illustrates the deplorable consequences of natural disasters such as floods and droughts to the elderly. There are primary effects such as the shortage o f food which also give birth to secondary effects such as grandchildren dropping out of school, early marriages for school going age girls, poverty and even diseases like high blood pressure.

Droughts and floods cause enormous food shortages. I visited some fields and the groundnut plants was turning yellow prematurely. The maize plants were wilting before they had even

23 A man in a Focus Group Discussion, Kapembere Primary School, 25 May 2016 COTTCO stands for The Cotton Company o f Zimbabwe.

reproduced. Elderly people cannot labour for food and when droughts occur, they become food insecure and consequently become more vulnerable.

The study by Devereux (2007: 2) in rural Malawi also established that the “most immediate impact of erratic rainfall on rural livelihoods is on crop production. Droughts and floods undermine farm yields and the national harvest, reducing household and national food availability, and agricultural income derived from crop sales”. Mavhura et al (2013: 43) did a study on indigenous knowledge, coping strategies and resilience to floods in Muzarabani, Zimbabwe, which was conducted in Chadereka and Dambukurima. They also established that floods led to the loss of crops which resulted in food insecurity. Furthermore, Bola, Mabiza, Goldin, Kujinga, Nhapi, Makurira and Mashauri (2013: 5), in their study on C oping w ith droughts a n d flo o d s in K anyem ba, found out that “droughts and floods reduced household food availability, and agricultural income derived from crop sales”. A study on floods by Beckman (2006: 55) in the Central Vietnam also revealed that “larger proportion of animals, like pigs, poultry and cattle were drowned and food crops were lost”. Thus, floods cause food shortages in both developed and developing countries. Food insecurity as an effect of floods and drought in both Chadereka and Kapembere created numerous problems which include, children dropping out of school, high crime rate being committed by woman, conflicts and sometimes fighting among villages. Diseases such as diarrhea become rampant and there is also family disintegration, poverty, and a high rate of prostitution. These consequences were highlighted by respondents during focus group discussions and key informant interviews in the Chadereka and Kapembere. One of the women who had stayed in the area for more than 10 years lamented:

F loods a n d droughts have cau sed the shortage o f food. This has also intensified p o verty in this community. P roblem s that are ca used by the shortage o f fo o d include children dropping out o f school because we w o u ld w a n t to eat together since the fo o d w ill no t be adequate to share. In addition, there is sm all am ounts o f m oney fr o m w hich we are supp o sed to buy uniforms, shoes a n d p a y fe e s to buy foo d. Furtherm ore, I m ade m y two little daughters g e t m arried to fa m ilie s w hich I know are fo od -secu re so that they can also eat. I also w a n ted to reduce the

burden as I have a large num ber o f children w hom I am not able to support.24

24 A woman in a Focus Group Discussion with women who have stayed in the area for 10 years and above, Gunduza village, 6 May 2016

The above lamentation demonstrated the magnitude of tribulations that have been caused by floods and droughts. The majority of the Muzarabani residents, especially female heads of households and the elderly, are left with no option but to force young girls to marry as well as pulling them out from school. Thus, when one looks deeper into the consequences of pulling children, especially girls, from school, the future development of such communities is bleak.

Even though they consider pulling the children out of school as a strategy to solve the problem of food crisis, the solution is not sustainable. Rather, it postpones the pain and it creates more problems that could have been solved by letting them go to school while struggling to get food.

This is because some of the children being taken out of school are doing well and they could be of assistance to their guardians and parents in the near future. This was also indicated by one of the Heads at a secondary school:

We have som e p u p ils w hose fe e s are being p a id by W orld Vision but their pa ren ts are taking them out o f school because they cannot affo rd to buy stationery a n d they do n o t have fo o d to eat. I t p a in s me a lot because som e o f them are intelligent as they perform better. F o r instance, there w as a certain g irl w ho w as p u lle d out o f school because her m other d id not have the m oney to buy her school uniform a n d ball points. H er fe e s w ere already p a id by W orld Vision. The g irl w as very sharp a n d I tried to convince the m other to try her level best so that she co u ld p u t her back to school. Unfortunately, it w as a ll in vain. She p u lle d her out o f school only because there is no fo o d a t their house25.

Thus, some parents in the community do not understand that pulling children out of school creates many future problems as the child continues to be a burden. Henceforth, floods and drought have negatively affected the development of communities. Food shortages also lead to the creation of other problems in the community as has been explained in the above. In addition to the above, women are more affected by both floods and droughts. Women have less access to resources that are essential in disaster preparedness and recovery. The majority of them do not own land and they do not have a say over family assets. One of the respondents said:

25 The Headmaster, Key Informant interview, Gunduza Primary School , 06 May,2016

I suffer m ore than m y hu sband because I am a woman. Now he is in H arare w orking as a driver a n d he does not sen d us m oney every m onth because he has another wife. I have to look fo r school fe e s a n d fo o d fo r m y children. I really fe e l like I should leave this type o f m arriage because I am overburdened. H e sa id I sh o u ld n o t sell the cows because they are no t m ine but h is26.

The above quotation is evidence that women are more overburdened than men, especially in societies where men are in charge of everything in the household (patriarchal society).

Moreover, the problem of food insecurity has become common in an era where climate is changing rapidly. Thus, “Higher temperature has negative effects on soil organic matter also.

As a result, food insecurity will occur” (Anik, Kabir and Ray 2012: 5). They also note that “the scarcity of water limits crop production and as a result, it has a great negative impact on the food system of the country”. A study by Bourke et al (2016) in New Papua Guinea also showed that droughts and floods cause food shortages. “In Papua New Guinea, extreme climate events have occasionally led to the collapse of normal subsistence food production systems, thereby causing large scale food shortages that threaten human health and survival [For example during the 1997 El Nino drought]. The production of staple foods [such as sweet potato] and cash crops [for instance coffee] are adversely affected by drought” (ibid: 1).

6.6.3: Floods and Droughts Implications on Residents’ Food and Livelihood Security