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Talent Chimutambgi-Herald Reporter
Farmers have been urged to adopt master plans that are being accelerated by the Government in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) meant to counterbalance the effects of climate change to guarantee food security in the country.
Delivering a lecture on the link between Food Security and Nutrition, FAO country representative Dr Patrice Talla Takoukam said they were in partnership with the Government in implementing programmes as guardrails to promote sustainability in food security.
Dr Takoukam said food security could be achievable only when farmers learn and adopt measures to mitigate climate change, which had adversely wreaked havoc in the area of food production.
“The presentation was on the link between Food Security and Nutrition and looking at the manifestation of climate change and the impacts of it in the country which are drought, floods and famine and how to tackle the effects through adoption of strategies like climate proof smart agriculture,” said Dr Takoukam.
“In Zimbabwe, as part of Southern Africa, we are working out a number of projects to teach farmers how to adapt to the effects of climate change by teaching them new techniques and bringing the quality seeds because the direct implications are manifesting in the soil, so we are trying to think what could be the seed varieties that can adapt to the conditions of climate change.
“Through the climate smart agriculture, we provide to the farmers the inputs and techniques and we are working with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries Water, Climate and Rural Development to encourage farmers to revisit traditional techniques and use what they have to be able to produce more and better for their families.
Dr Takoukam discouraged people from migrating to towns, saying farmers could easily sustain themselves if they implemented proper strategies.
“I discourage people from migrating from rural areas to the towns because they can shape their destiny from there,” he said.
“We do have a lot of programmes to capacitate and empower farmers to sustain food security in the country.
“The programmes were extended to Manicaland, Masvingo, as well as Matabeleland and we regularly monitor to check progress.
“These measures are meant to enable farmers to feed their families and do agribusiness. We support these farmers to produce more and encourage them to diversify for better nutrition.”
Online Reporter