In the late 1960s, a Zimbabwean farmer transformed a dry hillside with rainwater-harvesting earthworks; his wells stayed productive through droughts

On a sun-soaked slope in Zvishavane, Zimbabwe, small farmer Zephaniah Phiri Maseko took stock of his degraded land in the 1960s and made up his mind to do something about it. Where others were suffering from erosion and watching their scarce water supplies being washed away by rain flowing downhill, Maseko seems to have realised the importance of collecting water where it fell to assure his long-term sustenance.