Enos Kawina

Vulnerability to Food Insecurity in a Tonga Village: Perspectives from Tonga Women in Zimbabwe Enos Kawina

The Zimbabwe Tonga people?s traditional homelands are primarily the Zambezi Valley districts. The Tonga people who lived along the Zambezi River were displaced in the 1950s to make way for the construction of the Kariba Dam. Today, the Zambezi region is described as having the largest concentrations of food insecure and highly vulnerable people in Zimbabwe. Although gender discourses have become an important topic, few initiatives have committed their intervention strategies to address women?s food insecurity in rural villages of Binga District in Zimbabwe. The unique historical experiences of the Tonga women as well as their neglect from the mainstream knowledge have provoked the writing of this study, which explores the vulnerability to food insecurity in rural villages from the perspective of Tonga women. The linkage between their displacement and current food insecurity situation obtaining in Tonga Villages is also examined. Such an undertaking serves as an important purpose of bridging the knowledge gap that exists in literature on rural poverty and food security, and on resettlement projects and their impact to the dislocated communities.