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Contrary to beliefs by most policymakers in African countries, in the history of mankind, no country has built an inclusive society using external food and foreign knowledge systems. That is why developing countries should make sure foreign forces do not accelerate the loss of local food and indigenous knowledge systems (IKS). Progressive actions in this…
Agriculture has been a fundamental aspect of human civilization since ancient times, playing a critical role in providing food and other essential resources necessary for human survival. The sector has been a driver of economic growth, food security and employment for many people, particularly in developing countries, where a significant portion of the population relies…
Elvis Dumba Mapinga – A new smart city is expected for Mapinga to serve the proposed US13 Billion Mine to Energy Industrial Park that will serve a US $450 million Lithium salt plant, which is earmarked for Mapinga The plant will encompass two 300mw thermal power plants, a coking plant, a nickel-chromium alloy smelter, and…
Smallholder farmers have long been considered purely subsistent producers without the capacity to participate in commercial value chains. This has led to their exclusion from many agribusiness enterprises which typically focus on medium- to large-scale growers. Through the Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AID-I), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and partners are supporting…
By Charles Dhewa The relationship between climate change and indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) can be understood better if discussed from a historical perspective. This approach can show pathways and trends through which indigenous knowledge was an integral driver of how African communities dealt with a changing climate using their knowledge, values, intuitions, and experiences. Historical…
By Elvis Dumba Banket – Climate change has affected weather patterns around the world, thereby affecting many sectors, which include agriculture. Tropical cyclones and other climate change-induced weather patterns have contributed to droughts due to lack of rain and excessive rains in different areas with catastrophic consequences in some places where the loss of property…
By Elvis Dumba Banket – The government has set a target of hectares for wheat production as the country moves towards a wheat self-sufficient economy. Various stakeholders in the agriculture sector said they are geared up for the 2023 wheat season, with farmers being urged to get their agriculture inputs from reputable manufacturers to avoid…
Recognising climate change as a serious threat to social and economic development, Zimbabwe has been prioritizing adaptation in recent years. In 2015, a National Climate Change Response Strategy was passed. Two years later, the country’s first National Climate Policy was adopted, providing an overarching framework for climate action programming. With UNDP support, a comprehensive National Adaptation…
By Elvis Dumba Mt Darwin – As the country celebrates 43 years of independence, the government has made tremendous strides towards economic development in various sectors such as health, mining, education, and agriculture. President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the country’s own people are responsible for nation-building through peaceful hard work. Speaking during the 43rd Independence celebrations…
By Elvis Dumba Banket – Various businesses have partnered with the government in the success stories in the agriculture sector with climate-proof agricultural practices – The Pfumvudza/Intwasa geared to improve household food security. The Pfumvudza/Intwasa program has seen the country able to export maize for humanitarian purposes after tonnes of grain were donated to Malawi…
As government spearheads Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme (SWMP) in Binga, there was a site visit to the arid district by the Secretary for Environment, Climate, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry Ambassador Raphael Tayerera Faranisi last week. Zimbabwe is a well-endowed country with flora and fauna and it is a sought-after destination because of all that it…
By Wallace Mawire The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) will convene its annual field day at the CIMMYT Southern Africa Regional Office in Harare on the 5th of April 2023. The field day will be held at CIMMYT, a 12.5 km peg along Mazowe Road in Mt Pleasant, Harare. According to Moses Siambi,…
The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) met to appraise the milestones reached as part of their existing collaborative framework. Technical teams from both parties held an engagement on lessons learned, and ways to sustain and amplify the collaboration in new areas of common interest. As a background, PAP and…
Sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies have been a growing part of business profiles ever since the term ESG originated in 2005. Yet despite its nearly 20-year permeation into commerce culture, the concept of being sustainable or adhering to ESG principles remains a mystery to many organizations. To help provide insight and share…
By Elvis Dumba Chinhoyi – The country’s tobacco output is expected to grow by 8,5% in 2023, with 230 million kilograms of golden leaf expected to be on the market. This was revealed by Mashonaland West Provincial Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Mary Mliswa-Chikoka in a speech read on her behalf by…
On the 28th of March 2023, Heal Zimbabwe took the #AsOne Campaign to Buhera West and introduced it to community leaders. The local peace structure, aptly named Kugara Kunzwanana Peace Club convened a nhimbe (group of farmers working together) at the Chipuriro homestead to harvest finger millet, which brought more than 40 villagers including 5…
Elizabeth Njoroge recounts her poverty-stricken upbringing in Ting’ang’a village in the Central part of Kenya, growing up on a diet heavy on Amaranth and pumpkin. The 45-year-old speaks about the shame of neighbours finding out the frequency with which her family consumed foods associated with poor and extremely food-insecure households. “Terere (Amaranth) grew just like weed….
By John Wilson I am writing this on World Water Day, March 22nd. The UN’s tagline for the day is ‘Be the change. Every drop counts.’ This is very true. If we are going to return water cycles everywhere to what they used to be, then it will start with each one of us understanding…
By Patrice Talla – FAO Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa and FAO Representative in Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Lesotho This year we are celebrating the International Year of Millets. The year was endorsed by Members of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its Governing Bodies and declared at the 75th Session…
Goromonzi – Women empowerment projects that have been supported by the European Union, United Nations agencies, and other partners have progressively impacted communities. A diary project that was established in 1983 in Ward 11, Goromonzi, has economically transformed the community and created employment for hundreds of women. Mercy Mujuru, Chairperson of Chikwaka Kubatana Dairy Cooperative,…
By Clayton Masekesa Smallholder farmers in Burma Valley in Manicaland province continue to embrace cigar wrapper tobacco farming after exploring a potentially lucrative international market. Speaking at a Cigar Tobacco Wrapper field day at Mapote Farm owned by Lindsay Guild in Burma Valley last Thursday, the host farmer, Guild said most farmers in Burma Valley…
By Charles Dhewa Besides being instruction-oriented, conventional extension models were designed to promote a narrow range of hybrid crops and livestock. This has rendered extension services in many African countries unfit for the purpose given that African food systems are too broad and includes wildlife that co-exists with farmers. In most communities, baboons, monkeys, wild…
By Kudakwashe Pembere Stakeholders involved in the advocacy for the improvement of Zimbabwe’s nutrition needs under the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement banner convened in Harare on Friday to validate the country’s progress in the implementation of the global SUN3.0 strategy. In an interview, Food and Nutrition Council Acting Deputy Director Nutrition, Ms. Siboniso Chigova…
By Elvis Dumba Banket – The land reform program can only have a meaningful success if agriculture inputs are availed in time a Zvimba commercial farmer has said. Taurai Mtisi, a member of the Coalition of Agricultural Graduates of Zimbabwe, and a farmer at Inkwali Farm near Banket made the remarks during a green field day,…
The Pan African Parliament (PAP)’s Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment yesterday held deliberations on contributions from stakeholders on coming up with a model law on soil management. Hon Didier Molisho Sadi led the deliberations at the PAP Precincts in Midrand, South Africa where the legislative body is holding its Permanent Committee…
Hon Mangaliso Ndlovu, the Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry yesterday met with the Secretary of State in the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection, Mr. Stefan Tidow at his offices in Berlin as part of the engagement and re-engagement drive. The Minister was accompanied by the…
The Pan African Parliament (PAP)’s Permanent Committee on Education, Culture, Tourism, and Human Resources has promised to work on promoting African food and eradicating visas for sports teams travelling within the continent. This emerged today during a session chaired by Hon Senator Chief Fortune Z. Charumbira, the President of the PAP that was held under…
By Aaron Charungwa Moyo Climate change has proved to be a hazard to animal health in Zimbabwe, Director of Veterinary Field Services, Dr. Jairus Machakwa has said. “Climate change is distorting the epidemiological picture of January disease as this disease used to be confined to high rainfall regions”, This sentiment is a testament to the…
The European Investment Bank (EIB)’s EUR 40 million loan facility for Zimbabwe introduced last year as a pilot project, has emerged as a masterstroke to revive the agricultural sector. Speaking to Spiked Online Media last week, HE Jobst von Kirchmann, the Ambassador of the European Union to Zimbabwe said the EIB is the EU’s lending…
Scientists at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Rice Research and Extension Center seek to develop rice that is more resilient in the face of climate change and usable water depletion. Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station scientists Nick Bateman, associate professor and extension entomologist, and Stan De Guzman, assistant professor and rice breeder, have…
By Charles Dhewa Answering the above question is at the centre of a campaign being implemented by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) in more than 13 African countries including Zimbabwe. Dubbed My Food is Africa, the campaign started in 2022 with baseline surveys to understand local people’s perceptions of African food. In…
Genome editing is one of the new and emerging technologies that falls under the biotechnology umbrella, the application of which can potentially enhance the agricultural sector through improved crop resistance to pests and adverse environmental conditions, a senior government official has said. Professor Fanuel Tagwira, the Permant Secretary for the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary…
By Josep Borrell 24 February 2022 will forever be recalled as the day when Russia started its brutal, unprovoked, and illegal invasion of Ukraine. This was and remains a case of pure aggression and a clear-cut breach of the UN Charter. This war is neither ‘just a European issue’, nor is it about the ‘West…
The regional conference bringing African leaders together in Zimbabwe for the first FAO regional workshop on National Water Roadmaps is meant to proffer solutions to the challenges of water availability and access. In his address read on his behalf by Dr. Anxious Masuku, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, President Emmerson…
The Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill currently being debated is intended to reform the mining laws in the country and comes with joy among stakeholders since the process has been envisaged with minimum success and over a long period with attempts to amend the Bill in 2007 and 2018. Addressing delegates at the Key Stakeholder…
By Charles Dhewa Besides the loss of autonomy and exposure to external shocks, countries that are obsessed with foreign currency tend to marginalize the majority of citizens from participating in socio-economic development. Ideally, development should be seen in the well-being of local people. It is through investment in data collection and analyses that policymakers can…
By Charles Dhewa Across the world, bankers and financial institutions are succeeding in turning “financial inclusion” and “financial literacy” into buzzwords. However, what is not emphasized enough is the fact that finance is just a catalyst because money is not a stand-alone ingredient. In fact, it is business literacy that gives more meaning to finance…
Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is of the view that diversity, not false solutions, is the key to achieving food sovereignty on the African continent. Below, is the AFSA statement on the African Development Bank (AfDB)’s Dakar 2 Food Summit: As 34 heads of state and 70 ministers return home after three…
By Baboloki Semele Dakar, Senegal: The government of Botswana secured a deal from the African Development Bank to develop a special agro-processing industrial zone for beef. This was revealed by the president of the African Development Bank Dr. Akwinumi Adesina, on the margins of the second Dakar Summit on feed Africa, in Senegal last week….
A handover of vehicles to the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development by the European Union (EU) under the Zimbabwe Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Services (ZAKIS) project will bridge mobility gaps in the sector. In his speech, read today by Chief Director for Irrigation for the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water…
By Nhau Mangirazi There is a need for Hurungwe agro-business to help health facilities facing challenges. United Kingdom-based Zimbabwean philanthropist Gratiano Paul Mhunduru called on locals to help out in a small way as it makes a difference. He said this when he handed over 140 blankets, 140 sheets, and 3 BP checking machines to Hurungwe…
By Baboloki Semele Dakar, Senegal The African Development Bank, in partnership with the government of Canada, is geared at financing agricultural small and medium enterprises, in the quest to feed Africa. The initiative was launched on the margins of the Dakar Second Summit on Food in Africa, which was held in Dakar, Senegal, last week….
By Charles Dhewa That Climate Change and Food Sovereignty are defining issues of our time is no longer debatable. It follows wherever elections are done across the world, from local councilor to President, leaders should be voted on the basis of their plans to tackle climate change and food sovereignty. It is good that climate…
By Baboloki Semele Dakar, Senegal: Heavy debt burdens following the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, unrest and conflicts in Africa, rising food prices, and the war in Ukraine have added more to Africa’s food insecurity. The continent is facing its worst food crisis ever with more than one in five Africans; a record 278 million people…
Climate change is making it harder to grow enough nutritious food, but a unique programme is training African scientists in harnessing cutting-edge breeding tools to adapt agriculture to new threats. The African Plant Breeding Academy, a programme for top plant breeders to upgrade their skills in advanced crop breeding, is training 11 doctorate-level scientists from…
