The ManicaPost
Moreblessings Mugumbate Post Correspondent
BANANA farmers in Chimanimani are currently feeling the heat in the ongoing measures to contain the cholera outbreak as they helplessly watch their produce going to waste.
The banana producers usually ferry their produce to Harare and Bulawayo but they are now struggling to sell their produce following nationwide measures to contain the cholera outbreak especially in vending areas.
With banana farming being their major source of livelihood, the situation has even left most of them failing to raise school fees for their children.
In an interview, 40-year-old Peter Mujati, a local banana farmer from Jochoma Village in Chimanimani said he is now struggling to make ends meet to an extend of failing to raise school fees for his six children.
“I am a father of six children of which three of them are doing their secondary education at Chapanduka High School in Buhera and the other three are also doing their primary education. The major challenge is that our bananas are now rotting. We no longer have the market that we used to have because of the cholera outbreak I can’t pay for their school fees,” he said.
Another 39-year-old banana farmer, Honest Jochoma from Derera village in Chimanimani also highlighted that fending for his four children was now a challenge as bananas were now being left to rot.
“l would like to appeal to our government to quickly prioritise fixing our water and sewer system. Confiscating vendors’ merchandise is only a temporary measure to which l would like to urge vendors not to resist the directive but instead comply and go to their designated vending sites as required so as to ensure business continue as usual. Let’s all work together to move this country forward,” Jochoma added.
The cholera outbreak has since spread to several parts of the country from its epicenter in Harare’s densely populated suburbs.
Apart from Government, churches, individuals, international organizations such as UNICEF, WHO, and MSF have since moved in with assistance to contain the spread of the disease.
