Beitbridge minority farmer communities and climate change: prospects for sustainability

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 syste...

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Main Authors: Matsa, Mark, Dzawanda, Beauty
Format: Book chapter
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/66654
http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4792
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author Matsa, Mark
Dzawanda, Beauty
author_facet Matsa, Mark
Dzawanda, Beauty
author_sort Matsa, Mark
collection DSpace
description 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.
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spelling ir-11408-47922022-06-27T13:49:05Z Beitbridge minority farmer communities and climate change: prospects for sustainability Matsa, Mark Dzawanda, Beauty Climate change Indigenous minority farmer Beitbridge Zimbabwe 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. 2022-04-01T12:50:10Z 2022-04-01T12:50:10Z 2019 Book chapter 978-1-78985-668-2 978-1-78985-667-5 978-1-83880-039-0 https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/66654 10.5772/intechopen.78427 http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4792 en Climate Change and Agriculture: Edited by Saddam Hussain;Chapter 3 open
spellingShingle Climate change
Indigenous minority farmer
Beitbridge
Zimbabwe
Matsa, Mark
Dzawanda, Beauty
Beitbridge minority farmer communities and climate change: prospects for sustainability
title Beitbridge minority farmer communities and climate change: prospects for sustainability
title_full Beitbridge minority farmer communities and climate change: prospects for sustainability
title_fullStr Beitbridge minority farmer communities and climate change: prospects for sustainability
title_full_unstemmed Beitbridge minority farmer communities and climate change: prospects for sustainability
title_short Beitbridge minority farmer communities and climate change: prospects for sustainability
title_sort beitbridge minority farmer communities and climate change: prospects for sustainability
topic Climate change
Indigenous minority farmer
Beitbridge
Zimbabwe
url https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/66654
http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4792
work_keys_str_mv AT matsamark beitbridgeminorityfarmercommunitiesandclimatechangeprospectsforsustainability
AT dzawandabeauty beitbridgeminorityfarmercommunitiesandclimatechangeprospectsforsustainability