The Sunday News
Peter Matika, Senior Reporter
IT was pomp and fanfare on Friday in Insiza District, Matabeleland South Province, as hundreds of people gathered to witness the awarding of certificates and farming inputs to female farmers at the First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa’s Agric4SHE Field Day commemorations.
The programme was held at Miss Ottilia Pavari’s homestead in Ward 20 and was hosted by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, Climate and Rural Development under the theme: “Going 4Growth, leaving no woman and place behind.”
Farmers tour some produce exhibition stands during an Agric4SHE Field Day organised by the First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa
In a speech read on her behalf by Miss Sikhangele Ndlovu, the First Lady said the role of women in enhancing national growth through agriculture should not be underestimated.
“We reckon that rural-based women are the ones enhancing national wealth growth through agriculture. Women are a key pillar in the provision of sufficient nutritional foods. The nation must not underestimate the importance of women and their works in the agricultural sector, but should really appreciate all their efforts. For the nation to fulfill the goal of Food Security and Nutrition under Vision 2030, it needs women who work very hard to achieve good harvests and in turn increase their family income. Today we are celebrating the benefits of Pfumvudza/Intwasa in the Insiza District of Matabeleland South. As patron of Agric4she, I promised to award outstanding performers through field days and women farmer competitions. Field days are platforms for sharing ideas, technologies as well as awarding the best farmers,” she said.
Dr Mnangagwa last year supported 30 000 women beneficiaries, mostly widows, the elderly, disabled youths, orphans and former sex workers with inputs across 10 urban and rural communities in Zimbabwe. She urged female farmers to adopt Pfumvudza/Intwasa to achieve a great yield, even during the drought. The First Lady also said a harvest under the programme would undoubtedly produce a good harvest throughout the year.
“Matabeleland South Province is associated with high temperatures and less rainfall; therefore, I encourage you to grow traditional grains such as pearl millet and sorghum that are drought tolerant and highly nutritious. Sunflowers give us cooking oil. Groundnuts give us peanut butter and cowpeas can be both relish and mutakura,” she said.
Women follow proceedings during Agric4SHE Field Day in Matabeleland South organised by the First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa on Friday
Amai Mnangagwa encouraged women to venture into horticulture during winter under the Horticulture4SHE initiative.
“This will improve your income as well as a balanced diet for families. I also urge women to be fully involved in winter wheat production. As part of rural development, women should take an active role to come together as groups or clubs to partake in this opportunity to start bakeries,” said the First Lady.
She launched the Agric4she last year to empower female farmers, as well as to eradicate hunger in vulnerable communities in Zimbabwe and it has begun yielding positive results, mostly in semi-arid regions such as Matabeleland South. Various farmers exhibited their farm produce, which ranged from ground nuts, various grains, dried vegetables, beans and amacimbi.
Miss Pavari said she was proud to be an example to female farmers and hoped to emulate and complement Amai Mnangagwa’s farming programmes.
“I am glad to be an example to other farmers. The inputs we receive from the First Lady should not go to waste and we should also embrace the new farming techniques that the government introduces such as of Pfumvudza/Intwasa. It is of course not a new farming method according to history but it is the best when it comes to areas such as these,” she said.
Miss Pavari recorded a bumper harvest, which boasts of 1, 1 tonnes of maize per plot, which translates to 15 tonnes per hectare and a high yield of sunflower, ground nuts, indigenous grains, beans and cotton.
“It is achievable and I am grateful to the First Lady for this,” said Miss Pavari.
Miss Pavari also practices livestock farming, where she has a large herd of cattle. She also practices various farming methods and water conservancy projects to boost her cropping such as digging infiltration pits.
