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Ali Said Yesuf
Correspondent
In four years, 39-year-old Elizabeth Gwevo, a farmer, has transitioned from zero income and poor harvests to at least four streams of income and a double harvest.
“I ended up as the family’s breadwinner when my husband left me many years ago in search of a job in South Africa.
I knew I needed to work hard if I didn’t want my four children to go hungry,” reveals Elizabeth.
Elizabeth lives in Mubaiwa Village, Ward 12, Guruve District of Mashonaland Central.
Her story of abandonment is not unique, with thousands of other rural families having members migrating to “greener pastures”.
Climate change has further propelled migration as drier weather means rain-fed agriculture yields are decreasing.
Farmers are forced to look for employment in urban areas or neighbouring countries such as South Africa.
It is more common for men to be the migrants, leaving women to work.
Generally, women have limited control over accessing essential productive resources and services, technology, market information, financial assets, and decision making powers.
As a result, female-headed households are more likely to be food-insecure than male-headed households. Hunger is a global concern.
According to FAO, globally, over 800 million people struggle to get any food at all daily, and risk starvation.
Says Elizabeth: “I would till our family plot, but get a small harvest as I didn’t have enough agricultural inputs such as fertiliser or good knowledge of farming”.
The turning point for Elizabeth was in 2015 when she joined the Zimbabwe Livelihoods and Food Security Programme (LFSP), a UK aid-funded programme being implemented across 12 districts in Mashonaland Central, Midlands, Mashonaland West and Manicaland provinces.
The LFSP seeks to eliminate hunger and poverty among rural families through building their capacity in farming and income generation.
Elizabeth was empowered with a holistic set of skills in farming and business.
She also got access to affordable credit for income-generating projects through links enabled with financial institutions.
One of the most important things that had to be addressed first was shifting Elizabeth’s mindset into believing in herself.
An approach known as the Gender Action and Learning System (GALS) was used.
“If we heard that there was a training in the community, the men would often go because munda ndewa baba (the farm land belongs to the husband),” she said.
“Mombe dzinorima ndedzababa (the cattle belong to the husband). When my husband left, I had to become both husband and wife, mother and father, but I had nothing to my name. GALS really helped me change as an individual. At the trainings, we learnt that women could also lead, make decisions, and run businesses. I could also own assets like cattle.”
The GALS approach is based on addressing gender constraints that contribute to poverty and food insecurity.
Gender is important to consider in development initiatives as it has a big influence on social norms and power structures in communities, for example, ownership of assets, leadership positions in the community, accessing credit, decision making on income within the household etc.
In response to the need to empower women such as Elizabeth, GALS creates platforms for communities to dialogue and collectively act on negative social norms. Says FAO gender specialist Maggie Makanza: “When we designed the LFSP, GALS was brought on board to address gender dynamics in the house. Women face a plethora of challenges.
For example, women have challenges in accessing productive assets such as land.
Even those divorced or widowed still have to defer decision making to male relatives, even those outside their immediate household.
This can be very dis-empowering for women. Given that approximately 70 percent of the LFSP participants are women, addressing gender dynamics is very important.
We strongly encourage that men be part of the GALS trainings as their participation in the community dialogue is key to adopting new social norms and gender roles”.
Besides the gender sensitisation trainings, Elizabeth received soft skills training in various areas. She got agricultural extension support and training to enhance her farming skills.
In the past, Elizabeth’s maize yield would be less than 250kg of maize from 0,5ha.
With the knowledge she gained through the various LFSP trainings, she now utilises good agricultural practices such as adhering to optimum plant population, correct use of organic and inorganic fertilisers, crop protection techniques and post-harvest preservation methods.
The result was a doubling of her hectarage to just over one hectare and diversification of her crops beyond maize in order to reduce the risk of loss due to crop failure.
The change is notable.
For instance, Elizabeth’s maize production has now increased to three tonnes.
She has also started a horticulture project where she grows and sells vegetables and tomatoes with other farmers in her local community.
Not only does this provide a source of income, it also allows her family a more nutritious diet.
“I have gained a great amount of knowledge on farming from the programme’s extension officers such that I am now a lead farmer in my community,” she says.
“I teach other farmers on how to be better farmers, how to grow food that is nutritious and brings in income.”
Elizabeth says she took part in financial literacy trainings, including courses such as financial record keeping and small business management.
Farmers such as Elizabeth form groups which become platforms for establishment of group Internal Savings and Lending (ISAL) and businesses.
In these groups, the farmers contribute subscriptions for savings, loan capital, or business start-ups.
Elizabeth is a founding member of Budiriro Mudhindo ISAL group.
She and other group members obtained capital from a local bank to start a 500-bird poultry business. Together with some members of Budiriro Mudhindo, Elizabeth also opened a butchery at the local growth point.
The group added shelling services to their business portfolio with the purchase of a maize sheller. Budiriro Mudhindo charges their local community a fee equivalent to five percent of the shelled quantities. Since its start in 2016, the group has made more than 10 tonnes in earnings.
While five tonnes were sold, the other five tonnes were retained for consumption by the group’s families. Elizabeth highlighted the importance of training women farmers so that they are able to generate enough food and income for their families.
“What we need is to educate women, and give them trainings with GALS how to save and budget money, plan for old age and buy farming assets,” she says.
With multiple streams of income and improved farming techniques, Elizabeth has become a better farmer who is able to ensure food for her family.
One might hasten to add that the story of Elizabeth is by no means a prescriptive treatise, rather it provides insight into the possibilities of empowering women with better skills and livelihoods towards transitioning from zero income and achieving zero hunger.
“When my husband left, I thought my life was over,” she says.
“However, my mind has shifted and I now know that my hands are able to change my life and the lives of my children, with the knowledge I have gained and through hard work.”
Ali Said Yesuf is a chief technical advisor with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). He manages the Zimbabwe Livelihoods and Food Security Programme (LFSP), a UK aid-funded programme that contributes to poverty reduction and elimination of hunger. It directly supports 200 000 farming families and benefits approximately one million individuals through increased incomes and improved food and nutrition security.
Online Reporter