Mice trapping turns around lives of rural Zimbabwean women

By John Cassim

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AA) – Mice trapping could be a sign of poverty for some in Zimbabwe, but for women in Chipinge, an agricultural town bordering Mozambique, 513 kilometers (318 miles) east of the capital, it has become a good source of income.

The rodents, known locally as "mbeva," are a delicacy and a cheap source of protein.

Prices vary depending on the quantity, size, and source, with the minimum being $1 for 10 rodents.

For Chipo Sithole, a 30-year-old single mother from Vheneka village in Chipinge South constituency, her life has been transformed.

Chipo used to work as a maid, but due to coronavirus lockdowns, she lost her job and her only source of livelihood.

“I lost my job last year owing to the COVID-19 lockdowns. I tried peasant farming but failed due to too much rain that damaged my crops,” she told Anadolu Agency.

“Owing to good rains and harvests in other parts of my community, rodents reproduced in large numbers, and that came as a blessing to me.”

Onias Hlaiseka is another woman from Mutumburi village in Chipinge South who is also harvesting mice.

“We hire scotch carts or vans to go to the fields more than 20 kilometers away. The more 20-liter buckets one has, the bigger the catch.

“On a bad day, I catch roughly 3,000 and sell them at $0.25 each, although our prices are changing now. This has transformed my life,” Onai said.

Mice trapping has become so popular in the area that it has attracted buyers from as far as Bulawayo, Harare, Chiredzi, and other towns.

According to Onai, these buyers also barter sugar, detergents, flour, and cooking oil with mice, which they sell in their towns.

While trapping mice may have transformed the lives of women in Chipinge, the benefits are also cascading down to other business people such as transporters and shop owners.

- Mice trapping and dressing

Some shallow pits that fit 20-liter (5.3-gallon) buckets are dug, then water is poured into the buckets.

To attract the mice, some use peanut butter which is smeared on the top around the opening of the buckets.

Mice would then drop into the buckets filled with water, and the more buckets one has, the more mice they catch.

“We leave home at dusk to go to the fields. Setting up the traps takes at least an hour, depending on the number of buckets. Once we are done, we then return home, only to come back early in the morning before sunrise,” said another woman who is also trapping mice.

“When these women get there in the morning, they then sit down and begin to clean the rodents by taking out all their intestines.

The mice are then boiled before their hair is removed manually. They are then deep-fried, and within a few minutes, they will be ready for the market, one of the transporters revealed.

While all this is happening, the buyers from other towns wait near the fields. Trading only takes place once all the processes are completed.

“These women are brave because it’s known that mice attract huge snakes, and it’s risky getting into these fields like that and at night,” said a concerned villager.

- Nutritional benefits

“Mice, like many small edible insects, are a cheap source of proteins. Mice are good appetizers which are recommended to sick people,” said a Harare-based nurse who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A dietician based in Harare concurred and added that mice are classified as red meat but deliver other benefits to the human body.

“Research states that a three-ounce serving of mice contains about 45% of the proteins required in a human body and 35% of Vitamin B12 needed per day.

“Mice are a good source of zinc and iron and fall in the same category of mopane worms,” Rumbidzai Mukori, a nutrition consultant and founder of Fully Enrich, a health and nutrition consultancy company, told Anadolu Agency.

Zinc can help the body produce testosterone and selenium, a powerful antioxidant.

Mice consumption is popular among those who consume alcohol in Zimbabwe, as it is served dry and salty owing to the hunger that is caused by high sugar levels in alcohol.

- Trapping mice helps farmers

Normally, mice trapping is regarded as a sign of poverty, as only those desperate for relish, would venture into the fields to hunt the rodents.

Relish is scarce in rural areas post-harvest time, such that those without any means to buy find themselves hunting for mice.

But this time around, farmers see mice trapping as a good way of dealing with pests.

Mice are destructive, especially when they reproduce in their hundreds, like what they are doing this year.

“They feed in the field, and now we have winter wheat almost ready for harvesting. They cut down the entire wheat plant to consume the grain and for the leaves and stem for the creation of nests underground.

“This is a huge loss to any farmer, who may end up losing two to three tons of their crop, and in monetary value, that’s a lot,” Ivan Craig, director of Seed-Co, one of the top seed companies in the region, told Anadolu Agency.

Mice like something that is nice and tasty, and they usually go for corn in the husk, which consists of the husk and the silk.

Mice also attack germinating maize to the extent that a farmer would then be required to replant many times.

“This is common throughout the country but is even more in the middle Sabi area, which is near Chipinge,” Craig said.

According to Craig, the combination of termites and mice can be very destructive, but the news that women in Chipinge are trapping mice for sale is welcomed.