By TERRY PUGH
A Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) irrigation project is making a positive difference for small farmers in the southeast African country of Zimbabwe, according to Walter Wiebe, a longtime dairy farmer from the Hague area.
“I feel for these people,” said Wiebe. “They’re hurting; and this project is a really good thing because it’s tripled the amount of production they’re able to get from their plots in just a single year.
“This is making a difference in people’s lives.”
Wiebe, the Chair of the local Sask Valley Food Grains Bank, was part of a delegation of a dozen Canadians who visited Zimbabwe last month on a two-week Foodgrains Bank Learning Tour.
“The tour provided an opportunity for people involved in local Foodgrains Bank groups to see firsthand what’s happening overseas with the money that we raise,” said Wiebe. “The people on the tour were from many different backgrounds and different parts of Canada, but they’ve all been involved with the Foodgrains Bank in some form or other.
“In Zimbabwe we saw many projects and quite a bit of the country. It was a good experience because we all learned a lot – from the tour and from each other.”
Wiebe said one of the most impressive projects he witnessed involved the recent construction of a small canal that diverted water from a river to a series of hillside farms.
“The river was quite a ways away,” said Wiebe. “The area where they were cultivating their bean gardens was quite dry. In order for them to water their plots, the water was diverted from the river down this channel – it was about a foot wide and a foot deep – that was made of concrete.
“Alongside the channel at strategic places, there were small reservoirs; and from there the farmers could scoop the up water and irrigate their beans by hand. A couple of the reservoirs had hoses hooked to them, and because the land was quite mountainous, the hoses were gravity-fed and they could water quite a bit of land.”
Wiebe said there were 900 people involved in the irrigation project. Collectively they had 64 bean plots; each of them was 20 feet long by about three feet wide.
“The first year, one plot would produce 100 kilograms of beans,” said Wiebe. “This year, using irrigation from the project, they’re expecting each plot to produce 300 kilograms of beans. That’s a great investment for a relatively small amount of money.”
Wiebe said the people involved in the project are now working to increase the amount of land under cultivation as a way of becoming more self-sufficient.
“The food is pretty much all consumed locally,” he said.
In addition to beans, maize (corn), sorghum, mushrooms, peanuts and other ground nuts are common in the area. Crop rotation is increasingly being used to return organic matter to the soil and boost yields.
Wiebe said cattle are also raised.
“The interesting thing for me was that usually the crops are fenced in and the cattle are left outside to graze on the grasses along the roadside,” said Wiebe.
Wiebe said small-scale agriculture projects are a vital part of the economy of Zimbabwe, a country with a 70% unemployment rate and a history of political instability.
“Things we take for granted here are luxuries over there,” he said. “For instance, when we landed in Harare, the capital city, we only had electricity at our hotel for six hours each day. The other 18 hours there was no electricity. That’s because power is rationed; they turn it on for six hours in one area, and then later on it’s another area, and then another. They rotate the areas that get power in the city.
“In the rural areas, I don’t think anyone has electricity, period.”
Wiebe is slated to relate his experiences in Zimbabwe during a keynote address to the annual Sask Valley Food Grains Bank fundraising supper at the Brian King Centre in Warman on Friday, April 11 from 4:30 to 7 p.m.
He said currently, the supper is the biggest event the group puts on. Up until the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the group also staged an annual fundraising auction on Wiebe’s farm south of Hague.
“The auction was always a big thing,” said Wiebe. “It was very much a social event as well as a fundraiser.
“The farm where the auction was held was originally my uncle’s farm, and when I bought it I continued the tradition.”
According to CFGB Saskatchewan Regional Representatives Rick and Jacquie Block, electronic records show that the local Sask Valley Food Grains Bank raised more than $2.4 million between 2000 and 2024.
The actual amount of money raised by the group since its founding in 1980 is not known because there are no electronic records, but it’s substantial.
Wiebe said he was inspired by what he saw in Zimbabwe, and he’s committed to continuing fundraising work for the local Sask Valley Food Grains Bank and the CFGB.
“The tour was the spark I needed to carry on,” said Wiebe. “I’m going to do my utmost to keep this group going and raise more funds, because every little bit helps.”