Media reporting on Zimbabwe drought is disappointing

The media reporting on the drought is once again disappointing. This El Niño event is being experienced all across the region; it is not just a Zimbabwe story. El Niño is a particular, long-established weather event that may become more severe with climate change, but it isn’t climate change per se, as so often suggested. The tired story that since land reform Zimbabwe has imported food each year as we know is simply not true, despite the claims of too many poorly researched articles (see these examples among many from Reuters and VoA). The capacity to cope this year has been improved by land reform, and much of the food being redistributed now to communal areas is coming from resettlement farms.

A much more interesting media story would be how people are managing in spite of the drought; what new networks are being formed to support the needy; and what is the role of social mobilisation across urban and rural divides to respond. But these are not storylines for making cheap political points.

Sadly, the quality of rural reporting (and most Twitter/X commentary) in Zimbabwe (with some notably exceptions) is poor, with limited understanding of changing rural dynamics and little attempt to find out what is really happening. It is eternally frustrating, which is why I am happy some of these Zimbabweland blogs find their way into local newspapers and websites.

The media commentaries emphasise once again that droughts are always political. Whether it is the government or international agencies, everyone wants to make a point (and raise money) from a drought. As P. Sainath argued long ago in relation to India, ‘everybody loves a good drought’.

While rainfall deficits and global weather events take their toll, drought impacts are mediated through economic, social and political relations. There is of course no such thing as a natural disaster, as vulnerabilities always emerge from particular contexts. And in Zimbabwe the context is not conducive – economic collapse, tampering with currencies, political turmoil and more make it especially difficult for people to respond.

The smallholder farmers who got land during the land reform are partially insulated from the wider problems, and having land to self-provision from, even if yields are low, is vital in generating resilience. The significant investment in small-scale irrigation in these areas is especially important and will be a major factor in improving food supplies this year.

As we’ve documented before, it is the land reform farmers, especially in the A1 areas, who export food and support others, both in communal areas and in towns. The new food economy, particularly in drought periods remains poorly understood, certainly by journalists but also by those in government and the international agencies. Let’s hope that, like in previous years, the predicted disaster will not be as bad as feared.  

This blog was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland

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