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Dombera Farm - hope to Cyclone Idai-torn community

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On 15 March 2019, Chimanimani, Zimbabwe fell victim to the worst cyclone to ever hit the Southern Hemisphere – Cyclone Idai. Dombera Farm received ¾ of her annual rainfall in 36 hours – almost a metre of rain – which caused massive landslides that stole the dams (essential for providing water for crops), people’s houses, electricity lines, roads, greenhouses and crops. The devastation was even worse in the wider Chimanimani area with thousands of lives lost.

(This was once a babbling brook in a lush green valley)


Dombera Farm has been operating in the Chimanimani district since 1962. The Bailey Family wants to restore hope to the people of Chimanimani.


“It has been our long term vision that Dombera Farm would be at the heart of our local community and support those wishing to produce top quality fruit and vegetables. Now more than ever, our local community needs help to rebuild after the devastating impacts of Cyclone Idai and we have the experience to make it happen. We have started a GoFundMe Campaign to help raise the necessary capital to repair and improve the facilities provided by the farm. Please help make our vision a reality”.

Allan Bailey – Managing Director.


What does Dombera want to do?

Stage 1: Return water storage and basic infrastructure back to the farm - $100,000 USD



(Before Cyclone Idai)


 (After Cyclone Idai)

It’s simple, no water means no crops; No crops means no business.

Dombera Farm employs between 150-200 employees at any one time and is helping to sustain nearly 1000 dependents – these people are relatives of our employees including the elderly, the young and the orphaned. We urgently need water storage back on the farm to continue offering employment. 1000 extra people needing humanitarian support will only make the humanitarian situation in Chimanimani worse. Zimbabwe has an extremely high unemployment rate (more than 80% - Reuters, 2018 ) so every job matters.

The farm stored and used 167 mega-litres of water on site. At the start of 2019 it had been looking at how to increase this. Already the farm has abandoned some crops as it does not have enough water to irrigate them and rivers are dropping fast.

So what are the costs involved (all costs quoted in USD$):

·         Water engineer to assess how to restore water onto Dombera - $4,000

·         Repair of breach in Webster dam $46,400. This will restore 60 mega-litres of storage water

·         Pipeline to restore storage on farm USD$36,500. This will supply 97 mega-litres.

·         Repair internal roads and people's homes on the farm - $6000.


These costs are assuming that the large machinery operating in the wider cyclone clean-up will still be available once the funds have been raised.

The farm needs to survive if we are going to change the lives of 1000s of people around us. Read on to see how…

Dombera Farm - Women and Babies group
 

Stage 2: Identify small scale growers and provide them high quality seedlings and support to grow a profitable crop

Dombera has the expertise to deliver high quality outgrower programmes. Mike Bailey (the owner of Dombera) has set up successful chillie projects across Zimbabwe, producing high quality chillies for export markets including Nandos. We now want to bring that experience home to improve the livelihoods of people in the Chimanimani area. 

The farm needs funding to buy the seeds and pots to produce the seedlings in our registered nursery. Dombera has a proven track record in producing high quality seedlings for both small scale and commercial farmers alike. By providing small scale producers with high quality seedlings, the survival rate of individual plants should be better and the yield that the farmer produces in turn will be higher.

If enough funding can be raised, Dombera will then supply the fertiliser and chemical requirements to the growers, the cost of this will be claimed back so that the programme can be self-sustaining with chemicals and fertilisers purchased for subsequent years. The fruit and vegetables can then be processed through Dombera’s internationally accredited pack shed (Global G.A.P and Tesco Nurture standard). The farm will also provide affordable transport links to markets.



Stage 3: Upgrade pack shed facilities to include processing equipment to add value to second grade produce.

Dombera Farm wants to add value to locally produced fruit and vegetables. Whilst the majority of export crops will be sold to international markets, the local market is small and better returns are often received by processing the food at source – for example turning fruits into jams or drying them, tinning vegetables or turning them into chutneys. This means farmers receive a better return for their produce whilst also generating jobs for people processing the goods.

If you want to get more involved with any stage of this project please private message us on our Facebook  page
 

So who is Dombera Farm?

Dombera is a horticultural farm, fully accredited to Global Gap and Tesco Nurture standards.  The farm employs 150 to 200 staff dependent on harvest seasons.

Dombera is owned and managed by my brother-in-law, sister, their son Allan and his wife Claire and their two young children. Allan and Claire live on the farm full-time and will be master-minding and co-ordinating all the renovation work and will be very focused on rebuilding the cropping programme to ensure that their labour can continue work.

Allan, Claire and family


My initial aim is to raise £100,000 for them and if we achieve this aim, I would like to continue fundraising as the costs are going to be far higher than £100,000. We will document the rebuild and show progress every step of the way.

All funds will be paid directly into a UK bank account and the funds will be handled directly by Allan and his wife Claire who will be responsible for this fund. We will document, on this site, progress as it happens, showing how the money is being spent.  

Not a penny will be misused and every penny will be thoroughly appreciated.

Thank you so much for hearing our cry for help...
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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • £10
    • 4 yrs
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Organizer and beneficiary

Sarah Gaisford
Organizer
Claire Bailey
Beneficiary

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