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Tendai Rupapa in GURUVE
WOMEN are pillars in the provision of food security and maintenance of high nutritional standards whose contribution to agriculture should never be looked down upon, Agric4She patron First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa has said.
She made the remarks at Azusa Farm in Guruve, an Agric4She centre of excellence focusing on dairy farming and tobacco production.
Operations at the farm are run by Mrs Estheri Muzerengi and Mrs Tarisai Muzerengi who are co-wives in a polygamous union.
One of the wives focuses on dairy farming, while the other concentrates on crop production.
A hands-on person with a passion for farming, Dr Mnangagwa is visiting Agric4she centres of excellence countrywide to see how the women farmers are operating and to encourage other women from surrounding communities to emulate and benefit from Agricultural training programmes being offered at the Agric4She centers.
Amai Mnangagwa led in the planting of 885 trees- fruit trees and gum trees at the farm and nearby primary and secondary schools.
Trees are essential as a source of energy for tobacco curing.
The Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry represented by its Chief Director Professor Prosper Matondi indicated to the First Lady that it was introducing Trees4She in support of her programme.
The farm was identified as one of Mashonaland Central Province’s Agric4She centres of excellence or farmer field school where women will be taught by extension officers and Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board officers on tobacco farming.
Agric4SHE patron First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa listens to Mr Cuthbert Muzerengi’s wives Tarisai and Estheri on how they prepare their tobacco crop for sale at their farm in Guruve yesterday.
The co-wives never attended farming courses but would learn from other farms nearby prompting them to form clubs with other farmers thereby generating knowledge.
Using the knowledge and experience they acquired over the years, they are now teaching other aspiring women farmers in support of Amai Mnangagwa’s programme.
Dr Mnangagwa also milked cows and participated in grading tobacco to encourage other women.
The First Lady gave all the women gathered some inputs that included fertilisers, cotton seed, cotton blend, herbicide, insecticide and knapsack sprayers
In her remarks, Dr Mnangagwa said the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development attached importance to women empowerment, hence the programme Agric4She.
“Zimbabwe is well-known in terms of farming and livestock rearing and this ministry, among others, is the pillar of the national economy. Agriculture accounts for between 16 and 20 percent of exports, raking in 40 percent foreign currency. It is therefore important to realise that women have a great role to play in terms of agriculture. Women in rural areas uplift the country’s economy in terms of agriculture. They are also pillars in providing food security and body-building food. Women’s contribution must therefore not be looked down upon, but accepted and honoured,” she said.
To fulfil food security and nutrition goals under Vision 2030, the First Lady said, there was need to work hard to transform standards of living through high yields as money realised per household will be higher.
“Under the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) blueprint, Agricultural and Food Systems Transformation Strategy, the Ministry of Agriculture intends to transform crops and livestock and their availability through women’s contribution. They are also promoting traditional grains which are drought resistant.
“Last year, 17 519 women received fertilisers, seed, chemicals under Pfumvudza4SHE to encourage women to go out and produce. Mothers work hard and assess what their toil would have brought in the home. Women were lagging behind in terms of farming that is why we came up with the Agric4she programme. Since we started this programme last year, no woman has been left behind. Women I know you can do it. From what we realise we shall assist orphans, those with disabilities and the elderly as everything will be awaiting a mother’s attention,” she said.
The First Lady took time to educate the women on the main components of Agric4She including livestock4she.
“In Livestock4she there is poultry. The Government is giving out 10 chickens per household to add to what you already have. I implore you to rear these chickens so that they multiply and improve your lives. I expect you to have clubs where you rear various types of chickens,” she said.
“Under livestock we also have goats. Under this programme women are encouraged to rear goats. The Government is giving out 600 000 she-goats to communities. In addition, each village will get he-goats. These he-goats have qualities to give us goats of high quality and high milk production. Do not slaughter these goats,” she said.
The First Lady spoke about (Piggery4She), dairy cows, (Dairy4She), Beef4She and Sheep4She.
“With regards to cattle, I urge women to unite in fighting January disease which has decimated cattle in the country. Fight ticks through dipping cattle in line with schedules prescribed by the Ministry of Agriculture, especially during this rainy season,” she said.
Women, she said, could also venture into bee-keeping as groups and export honey to other countries.
Agric4SHE patron First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa hands over farming inputs to women in Guruve yesterday.
On Fisheries4SHE she said, “I urge women to keep fish. Fish nourish our bodies and give us income. They do not require money to keep and the Ministry of Agriculture is giving the seed free of charge. They can be kept in ponds and dams. You can get more knowledge from extension officers.”
She shed more light on Pfumvudza4SHE.
“This farming method called Pfumvudza/ Intwasa, if followed well, gives high yields even in a bad season. It was realised that among 3.5 million farmers, 54 percent were women. Let us work hard and I will come back to see where you will be with these programmes. I shall urge you to venture into competitions at district level and I have the prizes.
“Yields from Pfumvudza must give us a year’s food supply as we get surplus for sale to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). I long for programmes to transform women’s contribution through commercial crops like tobacco, cotton which we can export. Long back tobacco was mostly produced by men, but I encourage women to venture into this. I was gratified that most of those working at this farm are women of all age groups, especially in grading there are 22 women,” the First Lady said.
This, year, women produced wheat through irrigation and on wetlands.
“There is also Command Agriculture which is now referred to as NEAPS, National Enhanced Agriculture Productivity Scheme. This programme supports women though banks like AFC, CBZ and Stanbic. There are a few women in this programme who are just 17 percent. I therefore wish to see more women accessing credit under this programme. There shall be machinery like small tractors, ploughs, irrigation and women must be the first to benefit. I went to Iran recently and asked them to produce equipment that is easy for women to use,” she said.
She spoke about Horticulture4SHE where families were getting fruit trees and seeds for sweet potatoes.
“Do not be left behind in all these schemes. Let us be identified as hardworking women. We say no to women who concentrate on gossip. We want women who are constructive,” she said.
The First Lady denounced deforestation.
Environment and Tourism patron First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa plants an Orange tree at Azusa farm to encourage tobacco farmers, school children and people to plant more trees so as to replenish and maintain the environment in Guruve yesterday.
“Trees are important and therefore we must protect then. It was discovered that 50 percent of women are practicing Horticulture4SHE. I wish we venture into top export crops like blueberries, tea and coffee, sugar cane and macadamia nuts. We want to try all this. Working together as a family helps curb violence. Where there is food, there are less challenges,” she said.
Dr Mnangagwa had an interaction with the crowd on the causes and effects of domestic violence.
On Trees4She, Professor Matondi said they fully supported the First Lady’s programmes.
“We are here to support Amai’s programme of Agric4she and in the process of her work around that programme we are developing and have agreed that we also come up with a trees for programme. The trees4she programme is also aimed at reforestation across Zimbabwe ad also focusing on those areas that produce tobacco. It complements our tobacco wood programme as well. The aim of that programme is to meet at least 13,5 million trees off the 25 million trees targeted for 2023. We know that as women who use most of the energy from biomass they want to help us to meet this particular target. We have also broadened it to include fruit trees because each family is supposed to have fruits of that particular season each time so that is the aim of the programme to complement the First Lady’s efforts. We are working with the forestry commission for the distribution of trees and we are complementing her agric4she programme. Wherever she is putting her inputs we are also following up with trees,” Prof Matondi said.
Mrs Tarisai Muzerengi said she was grateful for the First Lady’s visit and her Agric4She programme.
She showed the First Lady what she was doing in the livestock section of the farm.
“When we heard you speaking about Agric4She we felt happy and said despite having spent a long time in farming, women were not recognised enough. It appeared as if we were doing nothing as women. Your programme made us so happy. At this homestead we are in the programme because women do all they do with their hearts. We thank you Amai for your vision. At this farm I concentrate on livestock while the senior wife focuses on crops. We have 13 dairy cows and two bulls. Of the 13 dairy cows, 10 are Holstein breed while the remaining three are jersey cows,” she said.
Her co-wife, Mrs Estheri Muzerengi, chronicled her journey in agriculture.
Agric4SHE patron First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa talks to Mr Cuthbert Muzerengi and his wives Tarisai and Estheri after she toured their Azusa farm in Guruve yesterday.
“We welcome you to our grading shed. We started doing tobacco in 2008 as we previously focused on horticulture.
We started with two hectares and increased these steadily until now when we ploughed 80 hectares,” she said.
Mrs Muzerengi expressed hope that the First Lady’s recent visit to Iran would help improve the earnings of women in tobacco farming.
The Iranians expressed interest in Zimbabwe’s tobacco.
The First Lady weighed in saying the move would help curb challenges presented by middlemen who were short-changing farmers as they will be dealing directly with the consumer of their crop.
Mrs Muzerengi added, “Amai we never studied in Agriculture but we would go everywhere where we heard there were workshops and read in the papers as well as ask others. We discovered that to acquire knowledge, we need to ask those with know-how as to how to go about some things. We never attended a school for agriculture but we got everything through asking around,” she said.
The First Lady paid tribute to the women for excelling despite the fact that they had not formally trained in agriculture and said they had set a good example of what can be achieved through working together.
Online Reporter