Harare — In 2009 Zimbabwe withdrew the local dollar and allowed the use of foreign currency to bring down hyperinflation, but outside of urban centres this money is often scarce and also makes food expensive, so Godknows Chuma started growing his own and discovered that his green fingers could provide for his family.

"As is the case in many rural areas, the foreign currency was hard to come by and we were struggling to get money to buy basic commodities," Chuma, 34, told IRIN.

Crippling hyperinflation had rendered the local dollar all but worthless and in February 2009 the economy was officially "dollarised". Economists stopped measuring inflation after it hit 6.5 quindecillion novemdecillion percent - 65 followed by 107 zeros.

Using the United States dollar, South African rand and Botswana pula as legal tender has helped rein in inflation, but they are seldom available in remote areas like Seke district, some 50km south of Harare, the capital, where Chuma lives.

A family affair

"Growing vegetables is a hard job, but since I started this project my life has improved." He irrigates the garden with water drawn from a well he dug, but his family sometimes still has fetch extra water from the river a kilometre away.

Every morning he and his family pick the vegetables that are ready and make them into bundles that Chuma sells along the nearby road.

Getting organised

Samson Chanakira, 50, a village elder, said almost every household in the district has started a market garden, all modelled on Chuma's plot.

The more enterprising villagers are finding it more lucrative to avoid local competition and hire trucks to transport their produce to the capital and Chitungwiza, a large town about 30km from Harare.

Innocent Makwiramiti, a Harare-based economist and former chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, also urged villagers to form cooperatives, as this would increase their chances of securing loans from financial institutions. He said the government should improve rural infrastructure, particularly water sources and roads.

"There is a need for the government and local authorities to play an active role in promoting market gardening in rural areas," he suggested. "This is a sure way of ensuring greater circulation of money in such communities, and reducing rural household poverty."

By IRIN

More Featured Articles