Completed MURB Theses

Featured 2026 Thesis by Gladys Mutangadura

Female headed households, Urban Agriculture and Climate Change: Case of Dangamvura high-density suburb in Mutare, Zimbabwe

Summary

Urban agriculture is an important source of food and income for many households in Zimbabwe. However, recurring droughts pose a growing threat to food production by reducing water availability and crop yields. Female-headed households, whose numbers have increased significantly in a context of rapid urbanization, have many dependents and few formal employment opportunities, and relied on informal work. Yet little research has examined how female-headed households engaged in crop production adapt to and cope with drought, particularly in high-density suburbs of major African cities, such as Mutare.

The fieldwork was conducted in 2025 in Ward 15 of Dangamvura. First, seven experts on urban agriculture, climate adaptation, and community support were interviewed about the challenges facing urban women farmers and the programs available to them. Then, 68 female heads of household were interviewed individually about their living conditions, farming activities, experiences of drought, the strategies they used when crops and food supplies were threatened as well as the support they received.

The study shows that drought had reduced their yields and access to water, making it harder to feed their families. With limited access to irrigation, resilient technologies, land or finance, and heavy domestic responsibilities, these women still manage to adapt by growing drought-tolerant crops and leafy vegetables such as covo, using conservation farming practices, applying mulch, irrigating crops, using recycled water, and planting crops in buckets or sacks. Higher-income households could invest in costlier strategies, while lower-income households relied more on low-cost approaches, indigenous crops and practices as well on social networks such as savings groups and seed sharing. During severe shortages, households reduced meals, borrowed food or money, used savings, sold assets or took on informal work. These strategies met immediate needs but could erode long-term resilience.

Government programs provided food assistance, farming inputs, and training on use of drought-resistant crops and conservation farming, but many respondents found this support insufficient, difficult to access, or arrived too late to meet their needs. The City of Mutare provided opportunities to learn from one another, but farming permit fees  were a concern. No household reported receiving NGO support, but churches and informal social networks provided some assistance. Overall, the findings point to a gap between available support programs and the needs of vulnerable female-headed households.

The study recommends stronger government support to secure their access to land, water, affordable agricultural inputs and finance, as well as improved irrigation and water infrastructure, timely extension services, climate information, and stronger gender-sensitive social protection. The City of Mutare should lower permit fees and protect spaces for urban agriculture. Interventions should build on indigenous knowledge, strengthen social networks such as savings groups, and promote income-generating activities like poultry and mushroom production. Greater collaboration among government, local authorities, NGOs, churches and communities is needed so these households could move from short-term coping to sustainable and long-term adaptation.

In sum, female-headed households in Dangamvura are actively adapting to drought, but gender inequalities, an inadequate access to land, water, finance, agricultural inputs as well as a lack of institutional support constrain their resilience. The study contributes to scholarship on gender and urban climate adaptation and is valuable for policymakers and planners supporting women farmers in cities across Africa and beyond.

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