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Tendai Rupapa Senior Reporter
THE Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development has appointed First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa patron for Agriculture-for-She, a novel initiative aimed at empowering women through farming.
The First Lady is a farmer in her own right and has also been actively involved in farming projects through her Angel of Hope Foundation where she has been assisting the elderly, those with disabilities, former ladies of the night, youths and orphans look after themselves through the use of their hands.
She has also been working with spouses of traditional chiefs in growing traditional grains and helped previously marginalised communities like the San in Plumtree and the Doma in Kanyemba set up nutrition gardens and castor bean production.
The mother of the nation also helped acquire Portugal Farm in Mashonaland East Province for use by various groups as she promotes agriculture.
The farming project similar to that at Portugal farm was introduced to all the country’s provinces where it became a success.
Announcing the appointment, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry Dr John Basera described the role as demanding since it will cover Irrigation-Development-for She, Command Agriculture-for-She, Mechanisation-for She, Pfumvudza, horticulture and livestock.
“We want to mainstream women and ensure they are actively involved in farming countrywide. At the United Nations there are Sustainable Development Goals which we want to achieve by 2025. The first SDG is to end hunger, number two is to end poverty globally. SDG 5 speaks on the need for gender equality. They are our mothers, they are our wives, they are our sisters and our leaders in some of our workplaces. We love them because they do constitute a significant proportion of our population and there is no economy which may grow without a bigger proportion of this population.
“Vision 2030 is speaking about empowering household upon household to reach the upper middle class. Vision 2030 simply means the presence of wealth at households by 2030. With such initiatives we believe we shall reach the target much faster and much earlier because women make up 52 percent of the population so we can’t succeed without them,” he said.
He added, “We discovered that to transform our farming, we need such initiatives and guidance from you as you move with women. Women should be able to appreciate where we are and where we intend to go in the agriculture space. Women are a very important demographically. They are a very important subsector in the agricultural economy and in our overall economy and for inclusive economic growth.
“Thank you for your wise guidance Amai and as a ministry, we are happy to appoint you as patron for Agric-for-She.”
Agriculture-for-She will address such issues as production across all agricultural sectors, post-harvest processing techniques, value addition and storage, increased social and rural and urban agricultural infrastructure.
It is also expected to improve access to finance and financial literacy training, access to inputs and establish links to established agricultural markets.
Among other benefits, it will also allow for assistance in forming and strengthening women’s agricultural groups.
In her acceptance speech, Dr Mnangagwa acknowledged that doors were opening for women to make meaningful contributions towards society.
“Indeed the doors are opening for women to make meaningful contributions towards society and initiatives such as this should not be taken lightly. Spouses of chiefs here representing all women, grandmothers and girls today is our day as women. I accept the role you have given me. It is not for being clapped hands for, but girls I have accepted this role because I believe in you that you are there and you will not embarrass me. If it fails it’s you, but here I have accepted. I know we can do it. We shall work together and show the difference. Life is a journey, when we stop, things don’t go right. I want us ladies to understand that if we stop, we wont reach our destination. Where I am, where you are, you are a traveller. A journey is a person and a distance has to be covered. It has to be covered by you and it has different paths. It is up to you to select the path you want to follow. Use it as your destiny. The path you shall choose today is your destiny,” she said to applause.
Dr Mnangagwa implored women to be focused and work hard to achieve the intended results.
“This requires us to move fast and work hard. As women, let us be found on areas that bring success to the family, areas that carry our lives forward and areas that carry our nation forward. The recent census indicated that about 52 percent of the national population are women. As the majority demographic, enough support should be given so that we are pivotal in the success of the country. It is no longer a case of them, but us. We must be included in what is taking place in the country,” she said.
The First Lady chronicled how the ministry sought to appoint her and the steps it took before she accepted adding that God had opened doors for women.
The First Lady said people must have zeal to be included in programmes right at inception to ensure they benefit.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Mr Moses Mhike congratulated the First Lady for the appointment.
“We congratulate you for the work you have been given, but we from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs we have worked with you and know that you are a hard worker. We do so many programmes with you and we know you are hands-on and a goal getter,” she said.
“As a ministry we are happy on your appointment. One of the issues I used to haggle over with Dr Basera, was that they have many programmes like Pfumvudza, but whenever we do the analysis the women were not visible. I was gratified last week to hear Dr Basera saying they wanted to champion a certain programme involving all women in Zimbabwe. To me there is no country that succeeds without women. For coming up with this programme, it is something we must appreciate. As we visit the provinces we are witnessing great works being done by our mothers.
“What gratifies me Amai is even as you do your rounds, you are not just looking for women in Harare you are visiting marginalised communities and this shows a mother who is loving, a mother who wants other women to excel. What I want to say to our women together with the ministry of agriculture, we now have a leader and I hope now we shall work together leaving no one behind. As ministry we are prepared as our structure goes down to ward level.”
Mr Tichawona Maponga from Valley Seeds said he was nearing 34 years in the seed industry and had never seen women being exalted as was the case with Agric-for-she.
“Let us embrace this together and carry this forward. We are there as an industry to support you Amai. We are moving with the Pfumvudza Programme alongside our friends from other seed houses or fertiliser producers. We are together in this programme until it succeeds. For a household to be food-sufficient, it’s the mother. In my life I know mothers rise early to go to the fields. Now we are being led by a person with passion to see things happening in the country. Even ladies I have seen here have a passion to see things running smoothly. We are here to back you and please do not leave us behind in your programmes. We want to walk with you. I want to say Amai we are with you, we walk with you and we shall be with you wherever you go so that our work runs smoothly,” said Mr Maponga.
The First Lady hit the ground running with groups like churches, the elderly, former ladies of the night, chiefs spouses and many others being given inputs to start production.
Mrs Naume Chimanikire wife to Chief Seke chronicled how as chiefs wives they were being assisted by the First Lady in farming activities.
“I remember in 2019 Amai invited us to State House. She said I want to hear the challenges in the communities in which you live. So we went back and heard the challenges and reported back,” she said.
“She then gave us traditional grains to sow together with women in our communities. She also gave us goats and chickens for projects which are thriving and helping communities. Amai is a hardworker all she wants is to see results. As women led by Amai, we geared and ready to go.”
One of the beneficiaries of Amai’s projects, a former lady of the night said she left the world’s oldest profession to use her hands so that she would be able to look after her children.
“Amai we are back before you to thank you. You came to us as you sought solutions to our problems. We gave our plea that the job we were doing of frequenting bars was not good. We told you we were not weaklings but we could work for ourselves. Entering these places we once frequented was not out of choice, but situations.
“Some of us we are orphans and we were being chased from homes and ended up frequenting bars. Amai you initiated a farming project for us in Seke and today we are master farmers farming all types of crops together with other women. We are forever grateful and we pray for you everyday our mother,” she said.
Her colleague weighed in saying: “What my colleague said is true. We would live in a way that I can’t speak of today because I feel I am now a mother and have left the past behind.
“Harare, Chivhu, Mvuma and Masvingo. That was our route as we did our shameless job but we would not be ashamed then. I want to thank Amai because she restored my dignity and today, I can feel ashamed when doing wrong unlike in the past.
“That is a way of life I thought was right but Amai came and gave me and others hope. We grew crops at Portugal Farm which we got through Amai and we produced many tonnes of maize. Out of these, we left some for food and took the rest to the Grain Marketing Board so that our name goes far and wide.”
She said she was grateful she could now dress appropriately because of the First Lady’s teachings and love.
Bishop Veronica Kwati representing churches praised the First Lady for sowing the seeds of love and unity among churches through her all encompassing programmes.
She chronicled how as churches they were working together in various projects initiated by Dr Mnangagwa.
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