What was looked at as nothing more than a tree good enough to use as a hedge, has today become the ray of hope for Mudzi, the most impoverished district in Mashonaland East.
Environment with Chipo Masara
Jatropha, fast-growing trees that have been observed to thrive even in dry regions, are believed to have originated from Latin America.
Thought to have been brought into the country from Mozambique, large concentrations of the plant are found mostly in communal areas like Chiweshe, Guruve, Binga, Mutoko and Mudzi, among other equally hot and dry areas. This is most probably because people in communal areas found appealing its drought-resistant nature and the fact that it acts well as a hedge for their properties, especially around crop fields and gardens to keep out animals.
However, in spite of the belief that the plant thrives only in hot dry areas, recent studies show the plant would do even better when well-watered and with a suitable supply of fertiliser or manure.
While the plant has been growing in the country from as way back as 1980, it was only as recently as 2007 that it was widely realised it could be used as much more than just a hedge.
Thanks to studies and research carried out, it was to be eventually discovered that jatropha was in actual fact not just any plant, but one that could present numerous business and development opportunities.
People that had watched the jatropha seeds go to waste for decades owing to ignorance were to discover that the same seeds when crushed would produce jatropha oil, used to make high-quality soaps, candles, floor polish, petroleum jelly, and could be used as a biofuel, among other products, while the jatropha cake from the crushed seeds serves as good-quality manure, especially for those that might have taken up organic farming.
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Mudzi is in agro-ecological region 4 — a very hot area receiving less than 400mm g of rainfall per annum — hence the growing of water-fed food crops like maize has never really been viable in the area.
Hunger is a constant “visitor” to the area with the locals in most instances dependent on humanitarian aid.
People in the area have often had to make do without some commodities that many might consider basic. The fact that the majority of villagers in the area are not formally employed further worsened their plight.
However, the beginning of a change of fortunes for the people of Mudzi was after Environment Africa initiated the pilot jatropha projects in the district.
Jatropha offers a win-win situation
Kanza Geti (34) from Muwadzi Village in Mudzi believes jatropha was sent by God as an answer to her family’s impoverishment.
Before she was part of the Muwadzi Soap Making group, one of the 18 Environment Action Groups (EAGs) running Jatropha projects in Mudzi, she used to spend her days in the scotching sun ploughing the land that would in the end produce nothing substantial.
Sending children to school used to seem like an impossible mission while the family would survive on not more than one meal a day. That has all changed. Today, Geti is an empowered woman. She is part of a group that makes high-quality soaps whose performance has been hailed as having the potential to surpass that of most imported soaps found in big retail shops. The jatropha oil in the soap is also said to have medicinal qualities and Geti insisted her family now have soft and smooth skin unlike before when they were susceptible to persistent rashes owing to the harsh hot weather conditions they are often exposed to in the area.
Lucia Chingaidzwa (28), also from Mudzi, said before, she would plough in people’s fields to eke out a living but today she makes soap, floor polish, petroleum jelly and candles.
She said even though her group’s jatropha products might not have a very big market as yet, going to bed hungry is now a thing of the past for her and her family. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is partnering Environment Africa under the European Union-funded Biofuels Policies and Practices for the Sustanaible Socio-economic Development of Zimbabwe, a four- and half year project running until 2015.
The soil science department at the University of Zimbabwe and the Department of Research and Specialist Services (DR&SS) is taking care of the project’s research needs.
While many that have used the jatropha products coming out of Mudzi attest that they are of an acceptable standard, there is need to work on the products packaging and a few touch ups to get to international standards that would make the products good for any market.
Although initially it was mostly women that showed interest in the jatropha projects, men have of late been showing eagerness to join in as they continue to witness the projects’ success.
But nothing beats the environmental benefits of jatropha.
As a fuel, it is kinder on the environment than diesel as most of the carbon dioxide produced when the fuel burns, is taken out of the atmosphere by the planted jatropha trees, thus helping reduce climate change, a phenomenon currently vexing Zimbabwe.
Furthermore, the plant’s hedges reduce the degradable effect of wind, protecting the soil and reducing the rate of desertification.
For Mudzi, discovering the value in the jatropha tree was the best thing that has happened to their community in a long time.
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