International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences, 2(8) August 2013, Pages: 644-653

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International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences

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2306-7276

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Towards Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management in

Zimbabwe: Evaluating Masvingo Rural Districts Community
Drought Management Program (MRDCCDMP)
Leonard Chitongo
Department of Rural Development and Resettlement, Great Zimbabwe University, Masvingo, Zimbabwe.
AR TIC LE INF O

AB STR AC T

Keywords:

The research sought to explore the effectiveness of the Masvingo Rural Districts Community
Drought Management Program (MRDCCDMP) in mitigating the cumulative effects posed by
successive droughts which have threatened rural livelihoods. The cumulative occurrence of drought
in rural Zimbabwe since 2002 has culminated in the stagnation of rural livelihoods which have
enormously been agro-based. This deliberation has not only entrenched rural poverty, but, has seen
the introduction of new strategies such as conservation farming and food handouts, all of which
have failed to usher into a comprehensive remedy primarily because of the palliative nature of the
solutions. As a consequence, the community resorted to traditional drought management strategies

Disaster Management
Drought Management
Indigenous Drought Management
Drought Mitigation
Technocartic Approach

as a complement of the existing conventional drought management efforts that have been implemented by the
Rural District Council in the community. The research therefore was an anatomy of the feasibility of
synchronizing indigenous drought management knowledge and conventional or modern methods of mitigating
the adversity of droughts in this community. This endeavor was anabled through the analytical framework of
technocatic approach to disaster management which stresses on the need for institutions to be proactive rather
than being reactionary as was characteristically with the traditional approach to disaster management. This was
complemented by the Disaster Mangement Cycle as a conceptual framwork. Methodologically, the research used
both quantitative and qualititative designs and data was gathered through questionnaires, informal and semistructured interviews, observation and focus group discussions. Among other findings, the research found out
that, inasmuch as the harmonization of the traditional and modern techniques proved to be positive, the grassroots
were more comfortable with the adoption of the traditional strategies which they argued were

compatible with their culture. The research consequently recommended further training programs
for the community to comprehend and appreciate the efficacy of harmonising indigenous
knowledge in the broad drought management strategy if the efforts are to culminate in
sustainability of rural livelihoods in Zimbabwe.
2013 Int. j. econ. manag. soc. sci. All rights reserved for TI Journals.

Introduction and background

Drought should be comprehended as a typical, cyclical component of climate which often is pervasive in almost all climatic systems
(Wilhite, 2000). It has been considered as a consequence of a natural decrease in the amount of rainfall received over a prolonged period,
usually a season or more in length. Its ramifications gradually accumulate and are spatially far reaching than are damages that emanate
from other natural hazards. This outlook has culminated in palliative or temporary remedies and policy responses to drought in which case
the aim would be merely rectifying the immediate needs of the affected populations instead of finding lasting and sustainable solutions, a
deliberation which has often been categorized as crisis management. This oversight seems to have justified the call for replacement of this
porous approach of crisis management with a more pragmatic perspective of risk management, as a logically viable option, inasmuch as the
latter glorifies preparedness, mitigation, prediction and early warning which are all components of an effective disaster risk management
effort. These have been both scientific and cultural. Considering the fact that in Zimbabwe drought has been and still is a recurrent
phenomenon, the enactment of strategic remedies and drought management programs is not only an option, but, a recommendation if the
proliferation of the impacts of drought is to be averted. This motion is prompted by the realization of the mixed outcomes of the study of
Masvingo Rural District Council Drought Management Strategy which was a case study upon which this report was based. This however,
was considered within the broader framework of the so-called National Policy on Drought Management, a policy which has exhibited
tendencies towards centralization of disaster or drought management function with the effect of relegating rather than mainstreaming the
participation of local people in drought preparedness. This nevertheless, has had less positive attributes than it has aggravated the impact of
drought in Zimbabwe. It has therefore emerged to be fundamentally essential to identify relevant impacts and assessing their causes in
order to minimize vulnerability to drought. It is also imperative that governments develop and adopt National Drought Policies that move
them towards a strategy to mitigate the impacts of drought, improve public awareness, and enhance partnerships for better coordination and
response to drought.

* Corresponding author.
Email address: vachitongo@gmail.com

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This paper is an analysis of the efficacy of the (MRDCCDMP) which spells out various programs and methods of monitoring, mitigation,
preparedness and prediction for early warnings against the probable impending drought hazards as a basis for sustainable livelihoods. This
analysis was however undertaken mindful of the implications of the National Policy on Drought Management (NPDM) that outlines
government responsibilities in responding to natural disasters and reviews government capacities and structures to deal with drought
preparedness, mitigation and response. It mainly examines the inherent deficiencies that militate against the operational efficiency of this
strategy in light of the fact that the successive prevalence of drought in the country justifies it to be a notable hazard that may culminate
into other forms of disasters, as a basis for generating recommendations that may solidify the provinces efforts to be positively functional.
The proliferation of drought and its latent and manifest effects on the wellbeing of the general populace in Zimbabwe and regionally can be
acknowledged from the satiric proclamation by Chigodora (1999: 3) of its transformation from a bread basket of the region to an empty
basket, a testimonial which connotes incapacitation and the need for considering the available drought management strategies in order to
proffer workable alternatives. The report reviewed the efficacy of this drought management strategy against its outcomes as of yet and
within the broad framework of relevant models of Disaster Risk Management in a bid to find out whether it translates into a complete and
competent disaster management cycle in which case it should squarely qualify preparedness, mitigation, recovery, prevention and
restoration. This was done through analyzing the organizational structure of the responsible district departments and actors; and political
will; human, fiscal and technological capacity of the district and government; nature of partnerships and power dynamics; issues of
governance; and the legislative framework governing Disaster Management in Zimbabwe. As a consequence, the report among other
offered alternatives, recommended that there should be uninhibited prevalence of harmonious working relations among these multifarious
stakeholders if the implications of drought are to be readily mitigated and effectively averted in Zimbabwe.
The main purpose of this paper is to examine at provincial level, the efficacy of the drought monitoring and management strategy; and
incidentally note the national capacity relative to drought management or support of district efforts thereof. This is in light of the
recognition of the prevalent relationship between the spheres of government in Zimbabwe, in which case the role of the district and
provincial spheres of government have all been ceremonial insofar as the domination of central government has visibly proven to be
indispensible especially in the circles of drought management (Chigodora, 1999). Perhaps, this emergent structural organization owes a lot
to the presidential decree of the 1980-1982 drought periods, a national disaster as indicated by UNDP (2003), a deliberation which could
have been erroneously interpreted as signaling the solitary need for central governments intervention hence relegating the functionality of
provincial and district structures in drought preparedness and management. The writer admits that this could be a precedent which informed
the unwarranted negation of the provincial and district drought management structures, even though they were legally called for by the
Civil Protection Act. This deliberation forms a prima facie basis upon which this report is premised.
The qualification of drought based disasters in Zimbabwe particularly, and the vast Southern Africa has been inevitably sanctioned by the
mere fact that in most of these countries the industrial base is agro-oriented (UNDP, 2003). This being the primary source of livelihoods for
most people, has rendered them vulnerable to hunger, malnutrition and diseases, a situation which does not only exhibit the pervasiveness
of drought related disasters but, hints on the need to device efficient, effective and strategic mitigation and preparedness programs in order
to avert the probable damage inflicted by droughts and the cumulative consequences. According to the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD), as cited by Benson and Clay (1997:12), at least 60 percent of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is vulnerable to drought and
probably 30 percent is highly vulnerable. Extreme drought in the Limpopo River Basin is a regular phenomenon and has been recorded for
more than a century at intervals of 10-20 years. For instance, in the period 1980-2000, the SADC region was struck by four major droughts,
notably in the seasons 1982/83, 1987/88, 1991/92 and 1994/95 (FAO, 1994). This corresponds to an average frequency of once every four
or five years, although the periodicity of droughts is not necessarily so predictable. FAO (1994) identified three drought cycles during the
years 1960 to 1993 with lengths of 3.4, 7.1 and 5.8 years, respectively. Amplitudes were 0.38, 0.35 and 0.28 standard deviations,
respectively (FAO, 1994). Inasmuch as it would be ultra vires the objective of this report to dwell much on these typical calculations, it is
equally imperative to recognize that their significance though, points to the need for sound and practical drought management strategies
that are informed by the desire to avoid the perpetual adoption of drought management methods that have proven to be deficient in the past.
Suggestively, this implies the need for a complete overhaul of the drought management regime in order to adopt new methodologies that
are compatible with the circumstances insofar as effective drought management is concerned.

Conceptualizing drought
In any discussion on the preparedness and management strategies for natural hazards, it is necessary to understand first the basic concepts
underlying the hazard under discussion. Hence, a brief discussion of the concept of drought is presented here. Drought is considered by
many to be the most complex but least understood of all natural hazards, affecting more people than any other hazard (Hagman, 2004). He
further notes that, however, there remains much confusion within the scientific literature and policy communities about its characteristics.
It is precisely this confusion that explains, to some extent, the lack of progress in drought preparedness in most parts of the world. Drought
is an insidious hazard of nature. Although it has scores of definitions, it originates from a deficiency of precipitation over an extended
period of time, usually a season or more. This deficiency results in a water shortage for some activity, group, or environmental sector
(Hayes, 1999). Drought therefore should be considered relative to some long-term average condition of balance between precipitation and
evapotranspiration in a particular area, a condition often perceived as normal.

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It is a slow-onset, creeping natural hazard that is a normal part of climate for virtually all regions of the world; it results in serious
economic, social, and environmental impacts (Wilhite, 2000). Drought onset and end are often difficult to determine, as is its severity.
Hayes (1999) notes that, drought severity is dependent not only on the duration, intensity and spatial extent of a specific drought episode,
but also on the demands made by human activities and vegetation on a specific regions water supply. The impacts of drought are however,
largely nonstructural and spread over a larger geographical area than are damages from other natural hazards (Gibbs, 1997). The writer
therefore submits that, the nonstructural characteristic of drought impacts has certainly hindered the development of accurate, reliable, and
timely estimates of severity and, ultimately, the formulation of drought preparedness plans by most governments. On the other hand,
drought risk is a product of a region's exposure to the natural hazard and its vulnerability to extended periods of water shortage (Wilhite,
2000). If nations and regions are to make progress in reducing the serious consequences of drought, they must improve their understanding
of the hazard and the factors that influence vulnerability.

Case study area

The case study area is located 25 kilometers north of Masvingo City. It is about 1200 hectares in extend and resided by about 90
households with a population of about 800 (AREX, 1998). Mushagashe Community shares a boundary with the Mutirikwi Conservancy to
the East. The community falls entirely under the climatic region four (4) of Zimbabwe. The average rainfall per annum is 350mm and due
to its unreliability suitable farming systems are those based on the utilization of the veld. Temperatures are high with maximum
temperatures above 30 degrees. This is especially during the month of October to February. The annual mean temperature has been 22.1
degrees. Farming systems based on beef, goat and poultry are common. Most of the communitys livelihood is sustained by livestock
production whose resource base was destroyed by the 1991-92 devastating drought. Crop production is viable under irrigation hence the
need for institutionalisation of small dams as water reservoirs.
Soils are dark reddish, brown and moderate deep to deep clay loams and alluvial along rivers and streams such as Shakashe and Pokoteke
River among others. As a result of the high clay content of the soils they have good water holding capacity as well as good permeability.
The topography comprises of gentle sloping wide crest separated by shallow drainage depressions. The altitude of the area is plus or minus
400m above sea level (Care, 2000). Vegetation comprises of generally a drought tolerant shrub and bush savanna. Trees are durable hard
woods suitable for firewood and roofing of houses, for example the Mopani and acacia tree species. The Mopani fruit, acacia and kigelia
Africana pods and dry leaves of tree species in the area provide winter forage. Thus given such a geographical background one would
assume that the area is a haven of developmental activities since the conditions are suitable for various development projects to sprout and
as such the concept of community participation comes under spotlight.
Subsistence farming households in this community are not well equipped with information and resources to deal with these constraints, and
are often totally dependent on scarce and degrading land and water resources for survival. Hence the prevalence of poor farming and
grazing practices, mismanagement of meager water resources, and increased soil erosion, deforestation, and land degradation, which, in a
vicious circle, exacerbate poverty in the community. As a consequent, this particular project by the community and the Rural District
Council sought to provide remedies to this impasse through community participation in various conventional and indigenous drought
management methods as a disaster management effort.

Conceptual framework
Disaster Risk Management includes sum total of all activities, programs and measures which can be taken up before, during and after a
disaster with the purpose to avoid a disaster, reduce its impact or recover from its losses. The three key stages of activities that are taken up
within disaster risk management are diagrammatically illustrated below as noted by Wilhite (2002: 25). He notes that pre-disaster activities
are those which are taken to reduce human and property losses caused by a potential hazard. For example, carrying out awareness
campaigns; strengthening the existing weak structures; preparation of the disaster management plans at household and community level.
Such risk reduction measures taken under this stage are termed as mitigation and preparedness activities. During a disaster; these include
initiatives taken to ensure that the needs and provisions of victims are met and suffering is minimized. Activities taken under this stage are
called emergency response activities. Post-disaster activities refer to initiatives taken in response to a disaster with a purpose to achieve
early recovery and rehabilitation of affected communities, immediately after a disaster strikes. These are called as response and recovery
activities.The Disaster Risk Management Cycle diagram (DRMC) highlights the range of initiatives which normally occur during both the
Emergency response and Recovery stages of a disaster. Some of these cut across both stages whilst other activities are unique to each stage
such as early warning and evacuation during emergency response; and reconstruction and economic and social restoration.
In the past decade or so, drought policy and preparedness have received increasing attention from governments, inter-national and regional
organizations, and non-governmental organizations NGOs. National drought policies should establish a clear set of operating guidelines to
manage drought and its impacts. The policy should be consistent and equitable for all regions, population groups, and economic sectors and
consistent with the goals of sustainable development (Hayes, 1999). It therefore follows that; drought policy should emphasize risk
management through the application of preparedness and mitigation measures. Preparedness refers to pre-disaster activities designed to
increase the level of readiness or improve operational and institutional capabilities for responding to a drought episodes as defined above.
Mitigation would entail short and long-term actions, programs, or policies implemented during and in advance of drought that reduce the

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degree of risk to human life, property, and productive capacity. The writer confirms that these actions are most effective if taken before the
event and emergency response is a permanent feature of drought management, because it is unlikely that government and others can
anticipate, avoid, or reduce all potential impacts through mitigation programs. Wilhite (2000) avows that a future drought event may also
exceed the capacity of a region to respond, however, emergency response should be used sparingly and only if it is consistent with longerterm drought policy goals and objectives.
A national drought policy should be directed towards reducing risk by developing better awareness and understanding of the drought
hazard and the underlying causes of societal vulnerability (Edwards and McKee, 1997). They further allude that this would improve risk
management by encouraging the application of seasonal and shorter-term forecasts, developing integrated monitoring and drought Early
Warning Systems and associated information delivery systems, developing preparedness plans at various levels of government, adopting
mitigation actions and programs, and creating a safety net of emergency response measures for timely and targeted relief.
The traditional approach to drought management has been reactive, relying largely on crisis management as noted above. The writer notes
that, this probably falls within the ambit of the anthropological paradigm of disaster management which was also preoccupied with the
threshold beyond which societies could survive when affected as Torry (1979) puts it. Suggestively, in this context disaster managers
would only react after the occurrence starting from the beginning of the damage caused by the disaster. This approach has been ineffective
because response is untimely, poorly coordinated, and poorly targeted to drought-stricken groups or areas. In addition, drought response is
post-impact and relief tends to reinforce the status quo in terms of resource management (Edwards and McKee, 1997). It is precisely these
existing resource management practices that have often increased societal vulnerability to drought and this therefore qualifies Malools
(2005) view that emergency management is economic in practice. As a consequence of this realization, numerous governments now
understand the fallacy of crisis management and are striving to learn how to employ proper risk management techniques to reduce societal
vulnerability to drought and therefore lessen the impacts associated with future drought events.
As vulnerability to drought has increased globally, greater attention has been directed to reducing risks through planning to improve
operational capabilities such as monitoring climate and water supply, building institutional capacity and mitigation measures that are aimed
at reducing drought impacts. The writer concedes that this change in emphasis is long overdue. Mitigating the effects of drought requires
the use of all components of the cycle of disaster management as illustrated in the disaster risk management cycle (DRMC) above, rather
than only the crisis management portion. This is supported by Wilhite (2000) who laments that, typically, when a natural hazard event and
resultant disaster has occurred, governments and donors have followed with impact assessment, response, recovery, and reconstruction
activities to return the region or locality to a pre-disaster state. This contention seems tenable if one considers that, historically, little
attention has been given to preparedness, mitigation, and prediction or early warning actions that is, risk management that could reduce
future impacts and lessen the need for government intervention, and this the writer contends could have been a culmination of the shallow
knowledge in terms of science and technology. So disasters would be an unforeseen event and the resultant reaction was based on that
sudden event in which case it would be more of a crisis whose remedy was immediate. Because of this emphasis on crisis management,
society has generally moved from one disaster to another with little, if any, reduction in risk. In addition, in drought-prone regions another
drought event is likely to occur before the region fully recovers from the last event as was the case in Zimbabwe as if affirming drought as
a perennial phenomenon.

Justification of the study

The severity of the successive drought episodes which affected Zimbabwe since 2002 was most visible and cummulative in Masvingo
province especially in Nemamwa where the area ecologically lies in region four. The rural livelihoods which were based on subsistance
farming and livestock were destroyed due to shortage of water for crops and animals. This became a disaster since it again distabilised
human capacity to adequetly respond to the negative consequencies of drought. Many solutions were attempted for instance livelihoods
enhencement projects by non-state actors which nevertheless emerged to be palliative and unsustainable since the projects were seasonal
and militated against by numerous factors such as lack of adequete funding and maladminstration. This failure prompted the rural district
council to embark on a local community based drought management program as a remedy. It is the purpose of this paper to evaluate this
program as a basis for designing and implementing drought management programs at a macro-level in Zimbabwe. Besides the fact that it
would contribute to knowledge, the information from this research can be harnessed in other efforts to manage disasters especially drought
in Zimbabwe by both the state and none-state actors.

Aim of the research

The research aimed at assessing the efficency of the community drought management project as a basis for ensuring sustainable rural
livelihoods. This was undertaken with the broad framework of disaster management.

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Research objectives
1.
2.
3.

To identify the various drought management methods adopted by the community

To assess contributions of these methods to the sustainability of rural livelihoods
To evaluate the challenges faced in implementing these drought managemnt strategies

Research methodology
The research used both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. A combination of these two methodologies was suitable for
this research because they helped in soliciting full, in-depth accounts of the perceptions, effects and the nature of methods used by the
project in managing drought based disaster as a basis for ensuring sustainable rural livelihoods. This complementary usage of this design
helps in the acquisition of comprehensive data about the variables under investigation. A combination of merits of the designs implies that
the demerits of each can be eliminated by the advantages of the other. Combining these two methodologies obviously yields added
advantage to the reliability of the findings if proper data collection tools are employed, relative to using a single research design.
Quantitative methods were used to measure variables that were linked to the research problem in the case study area. The rationale behind
using qualitative methodologies, in addition to quantitative data, was to increase understanding about dynamics, opinions and perceptions
of people in the case study area about the efficacy of their participation in local project aimed to benefit them. Questionnaires, informal and
semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were used as data collection tools in the research process. Simple random sampling
and purposive sampling was used in gathering data from the population of the area. The research used content analysis and descriptive
statistics in the presentation and analysis of that data.

Results and discussion

Impact of drought in Masvingo Rural
In Zimbabwe drought has had the same effect across all the provinces except for Mashonaland province, which since independence has
been favored by the government in terms of agricultural resources allocation (Chipindu, 2008). Inspite of the need to ascertain the
authenticity or otherwise of this allegation, the writer insists that it rather ratifies Maphosas (2006) claim of the deficiency of transparency
in the adjudication of the central government towards resource distribution not only in drought mitigation efforts. In Masvingo, like in all
other provinces, drought has its greatest impact on water supplies. Lack of water affects every aspect of environmental health and human
activity, including agriculture, natural areas and development projects. The 1991-1992 drought which ravaged most of southern Africa,
killed more than one million cattle in Zimbabwe, Masvingo being the greatest hit province recording almost one third of the total number
(Munowenyu, 1997:59). This has been attributed to the fact that the province hosts more communal farmers than any other province yet
they are very poor to afford fodder, and medical services for their cattle. Chipindu (2008) notes that this trend has replicated itself for the
successive droughts that followed. During a drought, overgrazing leads to further degradation of pastures and arable areas in cattle farming
areas. The deterioration of grazing capacity further reduces livestock numbers. In drier areas, scanty rainfall for a few years could destroy
crops and vegetation permanently and poor land-practices only make it worse. As a result crop loss in the fields, money which had been
used for implements such as fertilizers and pesticides was all flushed into drain because of drought. The drop in water supplies in dams and
rivers also affects the quality of water. In Masvingo, the Lake Kyle, Bangala Dam and Runde River recorded more than 65 % loss in water
(Chipundu, 2008: 47). The cholera outbreak that affected almost every country in the region during 1992 and 1993, and lately 2009
claiming hundreds of lives, may have been compounded by the this typical effect of drought. Agricultural activities were grossly paralyzed
in almost all the drought occurrences. Munowenyu (1997) confirms this by acknowledging that, had it not been of the droughts effects on
grain in the fields in most communal areas which resulted in poor harvest and in some instances no harvest at all, the government would
not have imported yellow maize as drought relief.

Drought management activities

Drought monitoring and early warning
In response to recurring drought, the partners to this drought management program have taken it upon themselves to effect a permanent
direct working partnership with the local Provincial Meteorological Department. Together they have established a drought monitoring desk
where information regarding observed rainfall and long-range forecasts could be periodically presented in one place for easy access.
Wilhite (2000) acknowledges that, this modern monitoring tool provides an opportunity for people to compare the current years rainfall
with amounts from previous dry periods to assist them in their decision and planning practices. This has been achieved through
mobilization from Agricultural Extension workers who were responsible for encouraging communal farmers to make use of the weather
information to their advantage in deciding what to cultivate and when. This has been complemented with the traditional methods of
weather forecasting as practiced by the community through ancestral consultations and mukwerera which is the rain making ceremony.
Chipindu (2008:23) confirms the validity of these traditional activities by the sentiments that, it is in this context where one can nullify
the modernisation discourses preoccupation with the repudiation of African traditional cultures on the basis that they were inimical to
development but these traditional rain making ceremonies and consultations were evidently realistic in their outcomes among the Shona
people. This remark qualifies the need to be both reactionary and proactive as informed by the traditional and technocratic approaches to
disaster management in that, whereas it was necessary to be prepare for the farming season through consultation of ancestral spirits,

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responses to the fate of the rain season were equally paramount as in the rain making ceremonies which were undertaken after the rain
exceeded the expected period to pour down. This was positive in that it helped the communities to cooperate in the program since they
gained trust from realizing that the program did not negate their indigenous knowledge as embodied in their cultures. So this would typify
early warnings and monitoring of the possible occurences of drought as enshrined in the diaster risk management cycle.

Vulnerability
Community mobilization
There was extensive community mobilization in order to conscientize people in these districts about the goodness and the need for them to
participate in this drought management program. This was the first and crucial step taken by the program facilitators since it targeted the
most drought prone districts. It was also imperative in that if they participate, depending on the viability of the program, their vulnerability
would be reduced. Of most important to be noted is that the program mostly targeted women, because migration and HIV and AIDS have
grossly restructured the demographic outlook of this communal area in Masvingo. As such women have been affirmed as heads of
households in which case their vulnerability both to poverty and drought has been exacerbated. Therefore the mobilization of this
marginalized group was indeed a positive step towards reducing vulnerability. This was even confirmed by over 55% of the respondents
who were women, who exclaimed that, they fully understood the implications of droughts to their families and this formed the basis for
their interest to participate in the drought management program.

Resettlement intervention
The program also appealed to the national government to desist from settling people in cattle ranching areas such as Mwenezi district yet
the resettled people do not have the resource capacity to practice ranching except crop farming. This was also a positive step towards
reducing vulnerability to drought hazard in that farmers would not waste time and hard earned resources cultivating crops in areas of low
rainfall. This complemented by Maphosa (2006) who posits that, resettlement programs should be undertaken mindful of the need to avoid
curtailing the objectives by exercising it based on crude determinism. This perhaps is why these resettled farmers have been said to be
victims of circumstances insofar as they are deficient of the audacity to voice against their unpleasant settlement due to the political nature
of the resettlement program. The consequence of this has just been the affirmation of their vulnerability to drought since their efforts are
correct yet located in wrong place. So the call by the program for correction of this anomaly, is not only vital inasmuch as the vulnerability
of the resettled people to drought is concerned, but, exposes the deficiencies characterizing national land policy in its negation of such
obvious considerations that resettlement for crop cultivation should in any case be compatible with the ecological topology of the area.
Failure to regard such technicalities would indeed compound the failure of the resettlement program but mostly worsens the vulnerability
of the people to drought hazards. This much related to the political economy of disaster management at national level in Zimbabwe. For
instance, in Zimbabwe, political will is amply demonstrated by the existence of the legal enabling statute, which creates a conducive
environment in which a dedicated disaster management department was spawned. The institutional framework, appropriate policy
development and legislative codes all flow from the corporate commitment. It is National Policy for Civil Protection that every citizen of
this country should assist where possible to avert or limit the effects of disaster. As provided by the Zimbabwe Civil Protection Act of
1989, central government initiates hazard reduction measures through relevant sector Ministries with the local administration taking the
responsibility for implementing its effectiveness. The Department of Civil Protection is a national organ, which is housed under the
Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing. The Department was established to carry out the overall co-ordination
of all relevant disaster management stakeholders. The Department is headed by one Director, one Deputy Director, supported by officers
and secretaries and a driver. The current system uses the existing Government, private, and NGO organizations whose regular activities
contain elements of disaster risk prevention and community development. However it is imperative to acknowledge Maphosas (2006)
observation that, the national structure for drought monitoring in Zimbabwe has just been ceremonial insofar as the contribution of the
central government is as good as insignificant. This he attributes to partisanship in terms of program support; the provision of implements,
corruption and lack of adequate resources. As a result conventional structures and mechanisms for drought management have dismally
proven sterile. This shortfall could have been the force behind the initiation of the program under evaluation, in an attempt to arrest the
perpetuation of the negative outcomes and impacts of drought, though at local level.

Conservation activities
Chipindu (2008) confirms that conservation is not only an essential aspect of development, but drought management too. It should thus be
noted from the research that conservation techniques such as agroforestry has a potential for improving field crop production while
providing the other benefits of tree planting. Thus the program has engaged communal farmers to construct contour ridges for conservation
in implemented areas. Farm level conservation should also promote minimum tillage as an alternative to existing cultural practices.
Smallholders fuel and draft power requirements was taken into account when devising this conservation program. For example, alternative
energy sources such as jelly oil, paraffin and solar were being distributed to households in the community on condition that they were
willing to participate in the drought management program. Again, livestock that are ecologically viable and provide tillage such as donkeys
and goats were promoted. Moreover, people were encouraged to use organic manure as fertilizer rather than relying of inorganic fertilizers
which have negative implication for the productive capacity of the soil. This was enabled through the digging of compost sites from which

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manure would be developed. This was not only commendable in its conservation effect but its inclinations towards sustainability as well.
This is complemented by the technocratic approach to disaster management which recommends that disaster management effots should be
proactive based rather than being reactionary and the disaster response aspect as encupsulated in the disaster risk reduction cycle
(Chipindu, 2008). In these efforts all these conservation techniques constitute commitment to preparedness which is even an essential phase
in the disaster risk management cycle. It follows that, if drought management follows this recommendation, it would be easy to ensure its
prevention through the communitys mitigation efforts in their adoption of conservation practices.

Mitigation and response

The need for stocks
The importance of a grain reserve stock cannot be over-emphasized as preparation for response in case of drought. The RDC has through
negotiations and partnership with NGOs such as CARE Zimbabwe and the World Food Program, and the Local Government to use local
Grain Marketing Board storage facilities for the grain stocks. This was after the national government had failed to buy stocks from the local
commercial and small scale farmers due to the low prices which did not accrue to an incentive. The proposed reserve stock would serve as
relief in the case of occurrence of drought. Such a minimum reserve stocks policy would avoid delayed importation, since the responsibility
for this exercise and provision of funds will lie in the hands of the RDC through the Local Government. The statistics on retentions by
smallholder farmers were proved wrong last year because the majority of households outside urban areas had run out of food stocks from
previous years' harvests to successive drought. This is inline with Hagman (2004) who clarifies what mitigation entails. He notes that,
mitigation efforts attempt to prevent hazards from developing into disasters altogether, or to reduce the effects of disasters when they occur.
The mitigation phase differs from the other phases because it focuses on long-term measures for reducing or eliminating risk. He further
acknowledges that, the implementation of mitigation strategies can be considered a part of the recovery process if applied after a disaster
occurs. Nevertheless, even if applied as part of recovery efforts as was the case in this community, actions that reduce or eliminate risk over
time are still considered mitigation efforts. He elaborates that; mitigative measures can be structural or non-structural. Structural measures
use technological solutions, like flood levees, cloud seeding, and irrigation in the case of drought. Non-structural measures include
legislation, land-use planning for example, the designation of nonessential land like parks to be used as flood zones, and insurance.
Mitigation is the most cost-efficient method for reducing the impact of hazards. He also admits that mitigation is not always suitable and
structural mitigation in particular may have adverse effects on the ecosystem.

Household food security and farmer training

The research found out that the communal are was more suitable for the production of small grain cereals because the soils and rainfall are
marginal. Despite this many, if not all, communal area farmers grow maize as the major food crop. Some of these areas are not suitable for
any crop production at all but can sustain livestock ranching. In the event of a drought, maize can be totally destroyed, yet drought tolerant
small grain cereals such as sorghum and millet can yield some food for subsistence. So the RDC through Agricultural Extension workers
embarked on educating the communal farmer on how to effectively cultivate these drought resistant crops. This again tallies with the notion
of preparedness which the disaster management cycle emphasizes as the most crucial element in any efforts toward disaster risk reduction
(Wilhite, 2000). They were also encouraged that each family should retain adequate food stocks to last for at least one year in cases where
there was meaningful harvest. This however was militated against by financial constraints of the rural folk since they lack any other source
of income except from this subsistence farming. They would be forced to sell their meager produce such that they get money for other
purposes such as school fees for children and health care. There was also need to build stocks of fodder banks which would save livestock
during drought years. They were also discouraged from trading food crops but rather complement these with cash crops. The peasants were
encouraged and facilitated to satisfy household food security in the first instance before any other adventures. This entailed appropriate
crop types and storage facilities if they were not attracted by the price for grain paged for this program. This was ensured through a local
pricing strategy which aimed at promoting a steady increase in producer prices to maintain viability and retain producer confidence and
interests in the food crops. Producer pricing policies at national level had appeared to have resulted in reduced returns to investment in
controlled and regulated commodities, leading to shortages of essential commodities such as cooking oil hence the inspiration for this local
drought management program. The program could improve farmer viability through seasonal and local pricing systems as well as by a
supplementary payments system as is currently in place for groundnuts. However, this is at local level only through the help of the NGOs.
Nevertheless, if these efforts are properly institutionalised would degenerate into effective drought prevention efforts which in turn ensures
sustainable livelihoods.

Food handouts; borehole drilling and community gardens

The drought management program has seen the provision of food handouts to the people in need. This however has been based on means
test to avoid wrong targeting of beneficiaries. The criterion has always been based on the recommendation by the communities of those
claiming to benefit, approval by a Food Assistance Committee. This has helped during the times of need in drought periods. This however
was in complementary to by the unsuccessful national program, Basic Commodities and Services Intervention (BACOS). The program has
also initiated community gardens where participants were encouraged to grow vegetables and small maize gardens as a pilot project for
large scale irrigation if the outcomes were encouraging, and to complementing dietary deficiencies in drought periods. These gardens were

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made possible through the programs erection of community boreholes as water source for the gardens and the people at the same time.
These all constitute disaster risk identification and reduction as Wilhite (1997) notes that, a precursor activity to the mitigation is the
identification of risks. He notes that physical risk assessment refers to the process of identifying and evaluating hazards. It is in risk
assessment where various hazards such as earthquakes, floods and riots within a certain area are identified. Each hazard poses a risk to the
population within the area assessed. The hazard-specific risk (Rh) combines both the probability and the level of impact of a specific
hazard (Carr, 2000). He affirms that, the hazard times the populations vulnerability to that hazard produce a risk. Catastrophe modeling
tools are used to support the calculation. The higher the risk, the more urgent the hazard specific vulnerabilities are targeted by mitigation
and preparedness efforts. However, if there is no vulnerability there will be no risk, for instance an earthquake occurring in a desert where
nobody lives.

Major Challenges
Vulnerability
As noted above, the program tries to embark on community mobilization as a means of stimulating willingness to participation and
therefore cooperation. This activity was met with resistance by some communal farmers in some communities in that they labeled the
program, a brainchild of opposition party. Those affiliated to the ruling party ZANU PF allegedly went about threatening other participants
that if they continue partaking in the program they would be risking to be arrested. As a result many interested farmers who were not
courageous enough disembarked from the program at an advanced stage. This was negative in that it promoted unnecessary apathy on the
part of the supposed beneficiaries and this would compromise the smooth ongoing of the program in the long run.
Moreover, the programs call for the consideration of moving some of the people who were participants yet they were resettled in livestock
ranching areas, was met with resistance by the central government. They considered the appeal to be undermining government efforts to
give landless masses a chance to own land as put by Mutasa (2006: 2) the then Minister of Land Resettlement and Agrarian Reform. He
reiterated that the National Policy on Disaster Management does not oblige the government to support any endeavors by NGOs or any
institutions, which threaten our stability. One is compelled to suggest that this does nothing except amounting to a mere pseud epigraphic
device or chicanery strategy of hiding behind technically legislative flaws in justifying their agenda, which in any case is negative and
reverse efforts towards drought mitigation. However, this refusal seem to have been deficient inasmuch as it negates the fact that, it was
not a question of owning land as they proclaimed but rather of producing from the land. Otherwise it seems to have been a political
justification for a wrong act. It would not deprive the resettled people of their land ownership rights if they were to be resettled in areas
suitable for crop cultivation which was and is still their agricultural activity. It rather demonstrates that, the central governments efforts
were aimed at garnering political mileage rather than the ultimate survival of these people. Nevertheless, this typical arrogance and
reluctance did more harm to these communal farmers though they owned land since they were denied a chance to produce and participate
in the drought management program. The central government also invoked political connotations when they cited that this call was only
made by NGOs who have a hidden agenda. Such proclamations were indeed inflammatory to some of the partners to the program mainly
the NGOs. Rhetorically, the government had approved the program, and indeed the program was benefiting a lot of people who were no
longer supported by the same government due to its lack of funds and fiscal discipline to sustainably manage such a program. The result
was a frictional working relations between the private and public stakeholder due to lack of trust, and this culminated in the withdrawal of
funds by other organizations such as Action Contrela Faim. This shook the effective and efficient running of the drought much to the effect
of rendering the innocent participants vulnerable to future and present drought hazards.
On the other hand, the conservation policy was not much of a problem since the participants were intrigued by the support of the partners to
the program.
Drought monitoring and early warning
This was the most overlooked area since so far there is no substantial establishment of a visible structure to that effect, yet it is the starting
point for drought preparedness. It follows that if there are effective monitoring and drought forecasting, then adaptive capacity can be
enhanced hence the management program becomes proactive rather than reactive. It was only on paper but has not been put into practice.
This is coupled by the fact that the meteorological department which is located at the aerodrome has outdated detecting equipment and it
also relies on weather forecasts from the capital city. This has been very unreliable since sometimes the centralization of meteorological
activities has only been a conduit for the government to report favorable weather forecasts which have often proven to be wrong. The
central government has in most instances proclaimed that this year there is enough rainfall for agriculture and this will see the success of
resettlement programand this will shame our detractors (Made, 2008: 15). This shows that there has always been interest from the
central government to support its land reform program at any costs, however to the detriment of the actual drought management since
shaming of detractors has been the preoccupation of their efforts rather than reliability of their weather forecasting as an imperative for
effective drought monitoring endeavors and early warnings. As a result, farmers have planted their seeds at wrong times and this has
resulted in the crops dying of lack of water especially farming areas without irrigation. The end result has not only been the destructing of
the drought management program, but has also aggravated proneness to drought hazards to people in the drought susceptible areas.

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Mitigation, response and recovery

The need for stocking of grain has been grossly undermined by the central government in that it claims fears that the grain will be used to
campaign for opposition party Movement for Democratic Change. The credibility of this claim seems so porous and rhetorical if in the first
place the government is concerned about the drought situation. Firstly, it failed to raise funds and the price for producers as an incentive.
Secondly, corrupt activities of government officials undermined the confidence of the producers and therefore acted as discouragement.
Thirdly, the government itself had failed nationally to efficiently operationalize this grain storage for future use due to numerous reasons,
yet this local efforts would perhaps be a remedy had it been effectively executed as was the objective. Therefore, the claim that the grain
would be misused for political reasons by opposition agents was not only ironic in that it seemed to qualify the notion that probably the
central government was the only one allowed to politicize food as it did with the BACOSI and operation Maguta which was purely
benefited ZANU PF supporters (Harold-Berry, 2008). It also reasonably qualifies to have been an act of sabotage against the noble idea by
the partners to this local initiative. On the other hand, household food security would be an effective endeavor had it been that the drought
was not successive. This occurrence inhibited the farmers from keeping previous stocks for the following year since the harvest was even
insufficient for that current year. However, farmer training was a success since most farmers received the training from agricultural
extension workers. Borehole drilling and vegetable gardens were also a success since most of the participating communities got access to
safe and clean water and at the same time operated gardens to their benefit. However, the gardens have been said to be of palliative or
temporary relief rather than having a long term effect. This seems to be true in that, in most instances communal farmers are very poor to
the extent that the income from the gardens is used for some other reasons such as payment of tuition for schools children and clothing.
This is the same with the food handouts. As such the benefits of food handouts and gardens have been meager to be outweighed by the gap
created by droughts. This situation was compounded by the fact that in Masvingo, drought has been perennial.
Malool (2005) affirms that the aim of the recovery phase is to restore the affected area to its previous state. It differs from the response
phase in its focus since recovery efforts are concerned with issues and decisions that must be made after immediate needs are addressed. He
insists this view by stating that recovery efforts are primarily concerned with actions that involve rebuilding destroyed property, reemployment, and the repair of other essential infrastructure. An important aspect of effective recovery efforts is taking advantage of a
window of opportunity for the implementation of mitigative measures that might otherwise be unpopular (Green, 2001). Citizens of the
affected area are more likely to accept more mitigative changes when a recent disaster is in fresh memory. For example in the United
States, the National Response Plan dictates how the resources provided by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 will be used in recovery
efforts. It is the Federal government that often provides the most technical and financial assistance for recovery efforts in the United States
(Wilhite, 2003).

Conclusion
In conclusion, it is imperative to note that drought constitute one of the insidious hazards which has pervasive and geometric effects on the
affected areas and beyond. As a consequent it should be considered as an adversity in the broad discourse of policy making for its impacts
to be less incurred if well prepared for. This has been seen to depend much on the extent of support that governments render towards such
efforts perhaps through availability of relevant and transparent policy frameworks that does not technically or in subtle ways conceal the
disaster management obligations of the various responsible actors as was the case in this particular scenario. This anomaly was seen to be
problematic in that the absurdities inherent in, for instance, the national drought policy impliedly exonerate the central government from
the obligation of ensuring that drought mitigation efforts by other players are effectively executed without state interference. These
legislative flaws, apart from seemingly being deliberate architectures would not only make the enforceability of such policies difficult, but,
such challenges would ultimately degenerate into unintended obstacles to the collective efforts of disaster risk management in this case,
drought management. It was also found out that there should be explicit differentiation between politics and programs that are aimed at
achieving development such as this typical drought management program, since the relationship of these variables if not harmonious,
would be recipe for the perpetuation of disasters inasmuch as these would always breed tendencies towards sabotage. This has also
impelled the need for mutual and harmonious public-private partnerships in the efforts towards disaster mitigation since both actors
contributions should be complementary if the disaster management objective is not to remain a dream. It has also been established that
there is no program without loopholes; each has its inherent strengths and weaknesses. Therefore it would be advisable for this drought
management program in particular to operationalize the complementary usage of both the conventional and indigenous drought
management strategies, and in general other disaster or drought management programs should work in complementarity with other existing
drought alleviation programs in the respective areas in which they are operating for effective attainability of the desired objectives of
reducing the impact of drought hazards in particular and disasters in general.

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Author
Chitongo Leonard is a lecturer in the Department of Rural Development and Resettlement, Great Zimbabwe University P.O. Box 1235 Masvingo, vachitongo@gmail.com,
+263773 293 3431.