Photo by Witness Kozanayi: Maize field washed away by flash floods in Ward 10, Chimanimani

Hope and hopelessness in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai in the Chimanimani District of Zimbabwe: An assessment of the potential of agroecology

Cyclone Idai had a devastating impact in the areas where it made landfall. In Zimbabwe, the Chimanimani District was one of the most severely affected. In order to understand the cyclone’s impact on local communities, multi-disciplinary, participatory and action-oriented research was conducted by seven universities (two from the UK, four from Zimbabwe and one from South Africa), in collaboration with civil society organisations and government departments. The research was organised into six interlinked thematic areas, namely, humanitarian impact; agroecology and land use management; climate change and environment; livelihoods, political economy and governance; topography, infrastructure and settlement; and disaster risk reduction, relief and recovery.

Post-doctoral Fellow Witness Kozanayi participated in the agroecology ad land use management group which aimed to assess the resilience of different farming landscapes to disasters like Cyclone Idai. Thirty-five farmer co-researchers (11 men, 13 women and 11 youths) were invited to participate from eight wards. A survey was co-developed during focus group discussions and conducted with 821 respondents. Purposive sampling was utilised across the eight wards in order to select farmers practising both agroecology and conventional farming. In addition, field and veld assessments were carried out to assess the veld and soil conditions.

Overall, results from the study revealed that Cyclone Idai had devastating impacts on local lives and livelihoods, with profound psycho-social trauma experienced by more than 50% of respondents; loss of over 157 lives (with an additional 300 declared missing) and more than 270 000 people affected; over USD 600 million damage in infrastructure; as well as massive devastation of landscapes. The research showed that in areas where inappropriate or destructive farming practices had been adopted prior to the cyclone, damage was more destructive as the natural ecosystems had already been disturbed and were thus vulnerable to natural disasters. These findings paint a dire, hopeless picture.

The research on agroecology, however, provided a glimmer of hope should future disasters of this nature happen again. The research revealed that forested landscapes, followed closely by those managed using agroecological practices, were less badly affected by the cyclone. They had the most organic matter in the soil, were able to absorb more excess run-off, and retained more nutrients in the upper layers, making them more available to plants. Further, findings on social mechanisms among agroecological farmers suggest a higher inclination towards sharing labour and seed, organising mutual aid for early response and recovery, and mobilising collective actions for landscape restoration. The team proposed that agroecological practices be scaled up in populated mountainous ecosystems in order to significantly improve resilience, stabilise landscapes through enhanced natural regenerative processes, and reduce the devastating downstream impacts of future extreme weather events. Finally, results from the study provide empirical evidence of the severe impacts of climate change-induced disasters and the need to adopt approaches like agroecology which bestow resilience in the face of such disasters.