Mambwere, Zimbabwe -
Samuel Mudziwepasi lost his entire maize crop in the last
farming season, when a drought ravaged much of Zimbabwe.
Now he fears his next harvest will be just as bad, as his
crop is already damaged from a dry spell that hit the country's
eastern regions at the start of this year.
Mudziwepasi knows one way to save his farm in Mambwere
village: start growing pearl millet, a drought-resistant grain
that could fetch him more money than maize.
But he is not allowed.
Even as persistently poor rains decimate Zimbabwe's maize
harvests, cultivating pearl millet has been effectively banned
in many rural areas for generations because traditional leaders
consider the crop brings bad luck.
"Growing pearl millet in this area is a taboo," Mudziwepasi
told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"We know it is grown in other drought-prone areas, but even
in times of drought we cannot grow that crop here."
Agricultural experts and government officials agree that
planting more drought-resistant small grains, like pearl millet,
is essential for the country to adapt to climate change.
Villagers say the reasons for shunning pearl millet differ
around the country, but most stem from long-held cultural
beliefs.
Blessing Zimunya, a traditional leader in Mambwere village,
said growing and eating pearl millet were prohibited there a
"long, long time ago", ever since a predecessor died after
eating a meal containing the grain.
"Pearl millet will never be grown again in these areas.
Never again," Zimunya insisted.
He said that even when the community was given pearl millet
under food aid programmes, the villagers wouldn't accept it.
"Just recently we rejected a consignment of pearl millet
from the government," Zimunya noted.
While village elders recognise the need to find alternatives
for local farmers struggling to grow thirsty crops like maize,
groundnuts and melons, Zimunya said lifting the ban on pearl
millet would anger their ancestral spirits.
"If you eat or grow millet in this area, you will suffer,"
he said.
Cooking oil is distributed as food aid is provided, in Mudzi about 230 kilometres northeast of the Zimbabwean capital Harare. File picture: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP
BANISHED AND PROSECUTED
The consequences of breaking the taboo can lead to families
losing their farms and homes.
Claris Madhuku, director of the Platform for Youth and
Community Development, a charity working in rural Zimbabwe, said
his organisation knew of families who were banished from their
villages for growing pearl millet.
In March, a couple was brought before the traditional court
in Mashonaland West province on charges of farming the grain.
The group Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which is
defending the couple, said in a statement the ban on the crop
goes against government policy to advocate and promote the
growing of small grains. The case is still pending.
Hilal Elver, the UN special rapporteur on the right to
food, said in a statement last November that more than 60% of
Zimbabwe's population of about 14 million were food-insecure,
meaning they do not have enough food to meet their basic needs.
In January, Zimbabwe's agriculture minister told officials
the country had only 100,000 tonnes of grain in its strategic
reserves - enough to last just over a month.
As the southern African nation suffers the effects of a
severe drought that halved maize harvests last year, the
government has started pushing small grains like pearl millet
and sorghum as "nutritious and progressive" crops, Madhuku said.
They also consume less water than maize and mature faster,
making them less vulnerable to unpredictable dry spells.
"Considering that these small grains are drought-resistant,
it makes a lot of sense," Madhuku said.
"Some of the myths (about pearl millet) that used to be
respected and of consequence should no longer be honoured," he
added.
A woman holds a voucher before receiving food aid, in Mudzi about 230 kilometres northeast of the Zimbabwean capital Harare. File picture: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/A
PRICE BOOST
To encourage more farmers to switch to small grains, in
February the government increased the price at which it buys
pearl millet, sorghum and finger millet from farmers.
The price paid for small grains went up from 4,000 Zimbabwe
dollars ($11) per tonne to 7,260 Zimbabwe dollars, about 300
Zimbabwe dollars more than the maize price, which also
increased.
Aware of the pearl millet taboo, the government is also
running programmes to educate traditional leaders and others
about the grain's benefits, noted Elisha N. Moyo, principal
climate change researcher for the environment ministry.
The push includes workshops, meetings with traditional
leaders and agricultural extension officers, and field visits to
farms where pearl millet is grown.
Leonard Madanhire, a farmer in Gutaurare near Mambwere,
lives in an area where farming pearl millet is allowed.
But he and the other farmers in his village still prefer to
cultivate maize because they find it easier to grow and more
versatile than pearl millet.
Madanhire said he understands why some farmers whose crops
are regularly destroyed by drought would want to cultivate the
hardier grain, but warned it will not be easy to convince
village leaders in places where the crop is outlawed.
"Culture and traditional beliefs are very strong here and
cannot be easily changed," he said.
Mambwere farmer Ephary Mukwindidza said he could only hope
the ban in his village would one day be relaxed to help
struggling communities.
"I think the traditional leaders should now allow farmers in
these areas to start growing pearl millet to save people from
hunger," he said. "People are suffering here."