NYANGA – When young boys, seeking fun, dug up a small pond in a village wetland little did they know that their efforts would one day present a ray of hope to their community.
What started as a playful juvenile diversion from daily chores by a group of young boys in Nyamuenda village 27 years ago has today been turned into a livelihood community project.
The unique conservation project bellies the humble beginnings as over 170 people in a total of 30 households are set to benefit from it.
In a small rural village of Nyatondo under Chief Hata in Nyanga where subsistence farming is the main source of economic survival, fish farming has introduced a new avenue of hope for villagers.
The story unfolded in the most ordinary way. At the beginning no one really paid attention until environmental watchdogs saw the potential for both conservation and community livelihood project.
Wetlands under threat
With most wetlands under threat from rapid urbanisation, farming and overgrazing according to Environmental Management Agency (EMA) provincial manager Kingstones Chitotombe there is greater need for communities to protect these important environmental assets.
He also said alluvial mining also posed a threat to wetlands through their extensive pollution of effluent.
“Currently we have seen quite a number of threats to these wetlands. First of which is clearing of land for agricultural purposes.
“Secondly we can talk of urbanisation if you go to Chitungwiza most of the wetlands are now houses, we have also that wetlands are under threat due to chemical poisoning from mining activities especially alluvial mining,” he said.
Mr. Chitotombe said wetlands are considered as very important environmental assets which should be protected for sustainable exploitation.
“Wetlands are considered to be very important environmental assets and throughout history we have seen that they formed an integral part of human survival by way of sustainable exploitation.
“We have seen it prudent to conserve one of the wetlands we have in Manicaland in the name of Nyamuenda,” he said.
Protection and exploitation
In this wetland protection intervention EMA availed fencing equipment as well as fish seed for a community fish farming project.
The project was initiated by local boys way back in 1989 as a pastime but has now been turned into a life changing initiative.
Long serving committee member and former civil servant Jane Nyarangwa said when the project initially started a group of women who were breeding pigs took advantage of the fish pond dug by the boys.
Using the teabag fishing model they would release the pig dung sporadically into the pond to feed the fish. The tea bag feeding system is still being used to day.
“We were told that pigs dung was vital in bream fish feeding and were started using the small dam that had been dug by the boys.
“But it was not that successful that time I was working at the Ministry of National Community Cooperatives and we encouraged women to participate in income generating projects,” Nyarangwa said.
Today the project has been transformed into a community beneficiation project located on 0.7 hectares; it will benefit over 170 families in Nyatondo village from 28 small fish ponds.
To ensure the sustainable exploitation of the wetland EMA facilitated training of villagers in collaboration with Voice of Africa Trust and the Livestock Production Development in fish farming.
The environment watchdog told journalists during a tour of Nyamuenda Wetland and fish pond in Nyatondo village under headman Mapeta Hata and Chief Kadzima Hata that the projects would improve the standard of living of villagers.
Acting Nyanga District environment officer Daniel Manzou said the project was dual focused through protection of wetlands and provision food security.
“We realised that it does not mean anything by just protecting wetlands by fencing them. That is why we came with the idea of fish farming and having fish ponds so that our villagers will breed fish for consumption and selling so that their lives can be improved,” he said.
“We managed to do this from the environmental grant that we were given by EMA of $1500 to buy fence, poles, bream fish and to provide training for the villagers.”
Manzou, however, said the project was facing challenges from birds that ate fish from the ponds.
Secretary-general of Nyamuenda fish project Tapiwa Chirangwa said this project is set to change their lives as they have something which they can look forward to.
She said most members had pulled out due to lack of proper training and the numerous difficulties they encountered.
Nyamuenda said EMA joined hands with Konde Water project after the realisation of the potential to expand the fish farming business resulting in the creation of 28 fish ponds.
“We feed the fish using the tea bag system. We give them pig and goat dung as well as pellets. The project has changed our lives after the intervention and we now have the skills of farming fish,” she said.
The ability of wetlands to recycle nutrients makes them critical in the overall functioning of earth. No other ecosystem is as productive, or as unique in this conversion process. In some places artificial wetlands were developed solely for the purpose of water purification.
Wetlands prevent flooding by holding water much like a sponge. By doing so, a wetland helps keep rivers’ levels normal and filter and purify the surface water.
Wetlands also clean the water by filtering out sedimentation, decomposing vegetative matter and converting chemicals into useable form.
Wetlands also release vegetative matter into rivers, which helps feed fish in the rivers. Wetlands help to counter balance the human effect on rivers by rejuvenating them and surrounding ecosystems.
Many animals that live in other habitats use wetlands for migration or reproduction. For example, herons nest in large old trees, but need shallow areas in order to wade for fish and aquatic life. Amphibians often forage in upland areas but return to the water to mate and reproduce.
While wetlands are truly unique, they must not be thought of as isolated and independent habitat. To the contrary, wetlands are vital to the health of all other biomes and to wildlife and humans everywhere.
