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Fildah Gwati
GOVERNMENT has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting women in agribusiness and culinary arts through the implementation of policies and programmes that empower productive participation of women in agriculture.
This came out during the official launch of Zimbabwe Women Agribusiness Network (ZWAN) and food festival in Harare recently. Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Deputy Minister Davis Marapira was the guest of honour at the event.
In his speech, Dep Min Marapira said: “Zimbabwe Women Agribusiness Network’s mandate of fostering participation of women in farming, enhancing economic growth, creating sustainable food systems and addressing gender inequalities disadvantaging women in agribusiness is commendable and is congruent to Government policies.”
The Government is eager to partner ZWAN in implementing policies which promote women empowerment through participation in decision making processes and programmes, which affect women in agriculture, he commented.
He added that the Ministry would continue to support women in agriculture through capacity building, further mainstreaming of gender sensitive policies and legislation, integrating gender issues into nation and sectoral economic policies, national budget policies, programming and budgeting, which involves identification of gender issues, interventions, budget costings and setting of performance.
Women are among previously disadvantaged groups and it is the Second Republic’s aim to foster inclusivity and equity.
In the quest to eliminate poverty and hunger completely, it is crucial that there is enhanced assistance to women farmers, with particular focus on those residing in rural areas.
He urged agricultural stakeholders to support ZWAN by capacitating them, enabling them to participate in economic development and improve their access to financial services. This includes initiatives like community borehole drilling, community gardens, revitalising irrigation schemes for female farmers and facilitating training for long-term resilience and development.
“We must make progress towards the economic empowerment of rural women and work closely with stakeholders including seed houses, fertiliser companies, banks, civil society, academia, private and public sectors, international agriculture communities,” he explained.
Women account for 52 percent of the population and their inclusion in all, political, economic and social activities is critical for the attainment of Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), which prioritises gender mainstreaming through visible initiatives that confer equal opportunities to women.
Government has prioritised gender equality in order to enhance women’s participation in the development process, in line with the constitution, the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 5, which seeks to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
“Agriculture occupies a central place in the economy for employment, income generation, poverty reduction and food security so it is encouraging to see an organisation such as ZWAN thriving, as it is advancing women empowerment in line with the Vision 2030 blueprint of leaving no one behind,” Dep Min Marapira
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