UNDERSTANDING CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND LIVELIHOODS ADAPTATION IN RURAL ZIMBABWE: A CASE OF CHAREWA, MUTOKO A Thesis Submitted in Fullfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF RHODES UNIVERSITY BY SANDRA BHATASARA January 2015 Supervisor: Professor Kirk Helliker Department of Sociology ABSTRACT Rural farmers in Zimbabwe have been grappling with various changes and challenges occurring in the country since the early 1990s. Amongst these, climate variability has emerged as one significant aspect. It has introduced new challenges for these farmers who are already facing various difficulties in maintaining their insecure livelihoods. Yet, current adaptation theories and inquiries have failed to sufficiently account for and analyse the capacity of these farmers to adequately respond to changing climatic conditions. In this respect, a number of studies have been heavily embedded in deterministic concepts that regard rural farmers as passive victims who play only a minor part in decisions and actions that affect their own livelihoods and well- being. Similarly, although some studies have acknowledged farmers’ capacity to adapt and build elements of resilience, they have not adequately shown how farmers interpret changes in climate and the structures, processes and conditions underpinning adaptation. Following that, my study uses a case study of a rural community in a semi-arid region of Mutoko district in eastern Zimbabwe and Margaret Archer’s sociological theory to understand and analyse how farmers problematise climate variability and respond to it. The study utilises a qualitative approach to divulge the subtleties on how rural people interpret processes of change and adapt to such changes. The thesis found that farmers are encountering increasingly unpredictable and unreliable rainfall patterns as well as shifting temperature conditions which are inducing labyrinthian livelihoods conundrums. However, these climatic shifts are not being experienced in a discrete manner hence farmers are also discontented with the obtaining socio-economic circumstances in the country. Simultaneously, whilst farmers in large part conceived changes in rainfall and temperature to be caused by natural shifts in climate, they also ascribed them to cultural and religious facets. Importantly, the thesis reveals considerable resourcefulness by farmers in the face of nascent changes in climate variability. Farmers have therefore constructed versatile coping and adaptive strategies. What is crucial to mention here is that climatic and non-climatic challenges are negotiated concurrently. Therein, farmers are adapting to climate variability and at the same time navigating difficult socio-economic landscapes. All the same, the process of adaptation is ostensibly not straightforward but complex. As it evolves, farmers find themselves facing numerous constraining structures and processes. Nonetheless, farmers in this study are i able to circumvent the constraints presented to them and at the same time activate the corresponding enabling structures, processes and conditions. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am genuinely grateful for all the help, support and encouragement I have received on the path to completing this thesis. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Prof Kirk Helliker for providing incisive and challenging comments and for all his very careful reading of the thesis. I am grateful to him for giving me the freedom to figure out my own path, at the same time supporting me when I needed guidance. His unbounded enthusiasm for sociological theory and Zimbabwean issues contributed to my confidence to complete this thesis. I also recognise the Department of Sociology, under the headship of Prof Helliker, for providing comfortable research funds and all the support they gave me during my stay at Rhodes University. I would like to thank farmers in Charewa who shared with me their deepest life stories. Undoubtedly, without their willingness and eagerness to converse with me, the intricate stories I have presented in this thesis would never have materialised. I specifically want to thank Sabhuku Nyakanyanga and Sabhuku Pasirayi, for they not only received me with fervor but they repeatedly stated that they felt honoured to have me undertake my research in their villages. Exceptional mention also goes to my parents in the field, Baba naMai Mugambiwa from Gotora village. They opened their home and their hearts, lived with me and treated me as their first daughter for the entire time I conducted my fieldwork in Charewa. I am grateful to Mutoko District Administrator, Mr Mudavanhu and Mr Nyamanzi, Councilor for Charewa A (ward 3) for granting me access to the study site. Mr Makonyere and Mr Kamuloni from AGRITEX and Mr Zinzombe from EMA Mutoko were very cooperative and ensured I got the important reports that I needed. From Plan Mutoko, my highest regards go to Mr Mukutiri, Mr Kwembeya and Mukoma Elisha Mutowo. They not only gave me important information but facilitated my entry into Charewa and offered me accommodation and transport on a few occasions. To Mr Mazai from COMMUTECH, thank you for your understanding. There are people who provided great inspiration and insights that I cannot fail to acknowledge which are: Dr S.D Chingarande, Dr A.M Nyamwanza, Dr D.P Chimanikire, Cde Dr W.Z Sadomba, Dr L Maunganidze and Dr B Mukamuri. Dr Nyamwanza and Dr Chingarande, I drew great methodological insights from you. When I made the decision to write a PhD proposal in 2011, Cde Dr Sadomba gave me very important comments that I retained throughout the entire iii journey to produce this thesis. Dr Maunganidze, who agreed to be my supervisor when I submitted my first proposal at the University of Zimbabwe, your high regard of Michel Foucault inspired me to bring sociology into climate change research. Dr Mukamuri re-introduced me to phenomenology and strengthened my belief in qualitative research. Dr Chimanikire, you have remained part of the struggle to complete this thesis and you supported me from the beginning to the end. You are one person who firmly believed in climate change when there seemed to be ‘organised denial’ of its reality and my research proposal was trivialised in 2011. You encouraged me to stand by my ideas, even though it meant I had to start all over at Rhodes University. You also gave me climate change literature form the START Climate Library that was sufficient to write my entire thesis. In all honesty, the fieldwork in Charewa was not easy and I could not have managed without my research assistants Kingstone and Phiona. They endured the heat and long walks even though our food comprised roasted nuts, roasted maize, sugarcane and masawu. On this note, I also thank Godknows Chivige for assisting me with my quantitative data analysis and SPSS, and Dau for transcribing some of my life history interviews. Special consideration goes to my family for their enduring love, support and understanding. Many thanks to my friends Loe Marongedza, Portia Munzeiwa, Mimi Kazembe, Ody Ganza, Evans Mushawevato, Taf Chevo, M.K Chiweshe, Ob Nyamucherera, K Kujinga and Biggy Chidzvondo. Tatenda Tats Nyadutu I can never thank you enough for checking on me whilst I was in the field. Tinashe, thank you for the times you agreed to take me to and pick me from Charewa. Along the way, I also met people who believed in me right away, namely Getrude Trudy T. Bvindi and Kumbirai Tudor Mazaiwana. Colleagues from Rhodes University and University of Zimbabwe: Takunda J. Chirau, Innocent Mahiya, E.J.R Mandizadza, N.Z Choguya, Ignatius Gutsa, Nelson Muparamoto, Hope Taderera and Ushe Kufakurinani, thanks guys. Above all, I would like to thank God for ‘in his heart man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps’ (Proverbs 16:9). iv CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................... iii List of Boxes .......................................................................................................................................... xii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................ xii List of Maps .......................................................................................................................................... xiii List of Pictures ...................................................................................................................................... xiii List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................ xiv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 The Problem of Climate Change and Variability in Africa ............................................................... 2 1.3 Why Adaptation Matters .................................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Problem Statement and Significance of Thesis .................................................................................