Passion Poultry Positively Impacting Communities

By Joyce Mukucha Poultry farming has become one of the most important aspects of agriculture in Zimbabwe and beyond. Poultry production is an important and diverse component since eggs and meat are part of health and diet for larger population all over the world. The majority is venturing into this business for making money and…

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Government Dedicated to Supporting Agricultural Productivity

By Joyce Mukucha The government is tirelessly working to enhance agricultural productivity, food, and nutrition security, and sustainable agri-food systems that are inclusive and resilient, a government official has said. In his remarks during the World Food Day (WFD) celebrations last week, the Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement, Douglas Karoro said the…

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Let’s make Zimbabwe’s land productive: FORUS Party

The Freedom of Rights Under Sovereign (FORUS) Party is proffering ways of making Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector productive so as to boost the economy and ensure the country’s prosperity. Dr. Emmanuel Katsvamutima, an economic advisor for FORUS Party, in an interview with Spiked Online Media said there is a need to strengthen the security of tenure and…

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ZGC Hails Rural Women’s Participation in Food Security and Poverty Reduction

By Joyce Mukucha The Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC) says rural women play a key role in global economies which include rural development, food production and poverty eradication. ZGC said this while celebrating the 2021 edition of the International Day of Rural Women on the 15th of October which was running under the theme, “Rural Women…

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ITC Celebrates UN resolution on World Cotton Day

The International Trade Centre (ITC) and the International Cotton Advisory Committee commend the United Nations General Assembly resolution (A/RES/75/318) of officially recognizing 7 October as World Cotton Day. It is a historical moment to acknowledge the importance of cotton as a global commodity as well as its vital role in several countries. Cotton generates income and…

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FinTech Can Help Fill Climate Resilience Gaps In Emerging Markets

The fuel crisis spreading across Europe and Asia highlights the weather-related vulnerabilities faced by global energy systems. As wind and solar falter under intermittency, power generation has defaulted to gas, where demand is being squeezed by early-autumn heating and late-summer electric cooling needs across Eurasia. The reverberations of February’s polar vortex in Texas—which froze gas output—continue to be felt…

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Gene editing helps agriculture adapt to climate change, meet UN Food Systems Summit goals

Gene editing continues to show great promise for developing more resilient and climate-smart crops to counter the mounting threat of climate change and its adverse effects on global food security, new research shows. With its vast potential to alleviate food insecurity and improve the livelihoods of vulnerable populations, gene editing as an agricultural production tool…

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Mashonaland West provincial agricultural show on this week

By Elvis Dumba The 74th edition of the Chinhoyi Agriculture Show Society will roar to life this week. Booking for exhibition space currently stands at 40 percent with more exhibitors still coming to get exhibition places. The Chinhoyi Show Society General Manager Brian Vengai confirmed the development with this publication. Vengai promised an exciting exhibition…

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Behind every quantity of food are units of measurements in African markets

By Charles Dhewa Contrary to western markets like supermarkets where most of the commodities are sold by weight through kilograms, for instance, African mass markets have developed their own best practices in measurement and linking measurements to price or value. To avoid the inconvenience of having to weigh commodities each time someone wants to buy,…

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UN Launches flash appeal as 2.5 million people face severe drought in Kenya

By Joyce Mukucha The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Friday launched a humanitarian flash appeal for the Kenya drought response as no fewer than 2.5 million people in different communities of the country’ s dry regions categorized as Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) experience food insecurity. The Kenya Drought Flash…

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We are committed to providing adequate energy: Government

The government, through the Ministry of Energy and Power Development, is working towards providing efficient energy generation and/or production, transmission, distribution and utilisation. This was communicated by the Minister of Energy and Power Development, Honourable Soda Zhemu during a recent National Energy Efficiency Policy (NEEP) validation workshop that took place in Harare recently. The Minister…

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Reducing Food Loss and Waste Key to Strengthening Food Sustainability System: FAO

Celebrating the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste this Wednesday, the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO) together with other organisations emphasised the need to embrace Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 which seeks to ensure sustainable production and consumption patterns, including a specific target to halve per capita global food waste by 2030. FAO…

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Young farmers hail Agrifoods, Empower Bank partnership for increased food production

By Desire Tshuma Young Farmers are upbeat that the partnership between Agrifoods and Empower Bank is paying huge dividends in maximising food production among the youths so as to contribute to sustainable economic growth. Agrifoods processes all agricultural produce and sells to farmers who are into different types of farming. “We process soybeans, sunflower seeds,…

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DREAMS-funded Greenhouse Project positively impacting youths in Chitungwiza, Goromonzi

Young people have hailed the Freedom of Information Act for giving them free access to information and education especially on the Green House projects that they are partaking in at institutions like the Utano Community Centre in Zengeza, Chitungwiza. The projects are helping in improving their livelihoods and are being supported by the Determined, Resilient, Empowered,…

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Esigodini PFMS Kiosk, College of Agriculture e-learning platform promoting smart agriculture 

The Esigodini Agricultural College e-Learning platform and the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) kiosk launched by Dr. Jenfan Muswere, the Minister of Information Communication Technology (ICT), Postal and Courier Services at Esigodini township yesterday in Mzingwane District are meant to promote smart agriculture and the advancement of a digital economy. “Online learning platforms and a…

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Community information centres open window for STEM subjects in rural areas

Community information centres provide a window of opportunity for rural-based students to take up science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects, Dr. Jenfan Muswere, the Minister of Information Communication Technology (ICT), Postal and Courier Services has said. He alluded to this fact on 17 September 2021 while launching the Rafingora Community Information Centre at an…

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UNDP donates vehicles to Zimbabwe’s agricultural resilience building project

By Joyce Mukucha The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has handed over five project vehicles to the Ministry of Lands, Agricultural, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement under the Green Climate Fund Building resilience of vulnerable agricultural livelihoods in the Southern Zimbabwe project. Speaking on behalf of her superior during the handover ceremony in Harare on…

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Climate Change predicted to force over 216 million people’s migration within their own countries by 2050

By Joyce Mukucha A new report by the World Bank (WB) has revealed that climate change is an increasingly powerful driver of migration which could force 216 million people across six world regions to move within their countries by 2050. “Climate change is a powerful driver of internal migration because of its impacts on people’s…

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Minister warns youths against land invasions

By Elvis Dumba Local Government and Public Works Deputy Minister Marian Chombo has warned youths from land invasions which have witnessed an increase in Zvimba District and some parts of Mashonaland West Province. Minister Chombo was speaking to Zvimba North ZANU PF leadership during a two-day constituency tour. Minister Chombo said some unscrupulous people were…

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World Vision Improving Disaster Preparedness and Inclusive Education in Zimbabwean Districts

In the quest to address disasters and pandemics that strike and negatively affect the livelihoods of vulnerable groups, especially children and people with disabilities, World Vision in conjunction with Welthungerhilfe, Christian Blind Mission and various Government of Zimbabwe departments has launched a project to strengthen community-led actions on education and disaster preparedness in five districts…

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Improving Food Security Through Capacity Building

Millions of people suffer from food insecurity around the globe. With the help of Earth-observing satellites, the NASA-USAID SERVIR project is hoping to reduce that number. Food security – the consistent availability and affordability of food – is a basic human need, yet it remains elusive for billions of people around the world. The United Nations’…

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Stop funding industrial agriculture in Africa: AFSA

Yesterday the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), Africa’s largest civil society network, called on donors to stop funding the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and other programs that promote industrialized agriculture on the continent. AFSA leaders will deliver their letter to AGRA donors, with hundreds of endorsements from international organizations,…

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Smallholder farmer Pardon Mbondia driving agricultural productivity

By Desire Tshuma A Gwatemba-based small-scale purchase land farmer Pardon Mbondia has defied all the odds brought by the Matebeleland region’s poor rainfall by embarking on intensive market gardening. ”With farming, you won’t go wrong. I plant different types of vegetables that include cabbages rape, spinach, and tomatoes to mention just a few. I also…

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Let African States Submit Updated Plans Before COP26

Less than two months to the Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Africa has already made its demands known. According to the Tanguy Gahouma-Bekale-led African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change, the team will use the October 31-November 12 conferences to press their counterparts from the developed countries to place the…

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India extends up to US$1 million for climate-resilient agriculture in Zimbabwe

The Government of India has contributed almost USD one million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Zimbabwe to help affected populations tackle climate shocks.   The contribution, provided through the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, will be used to assist more than 5200 smallholder farmers in Chiredzi and Mangwe districts. Working alongside partners,…

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Let’s not harm wetlands: Environmentalist speaks

By Marlvin Ngiza As the hot dry season fast approaches, citizens have been urged to exercise extreme care in protecting wetlands and adhere to all environmental policies in order to minimize harm to the natural resource. Environmentalist Noreen Rumbidzai Matonga said people should stop cultivating on or close to wetlands. She also encouraged citizens to…

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Investments in Nature Needed to Stop the Next Pandemic: Harvard and Global Experts Report

Protecting forests and changing agricultural practices are essential, cost-effective actions to prevent pandemics Boston, Mass. – As the world struggles to contain COVID-19, a group of leading, scientific experts from the U.S., Latin America, Africa, and South Asia released a report today outlining the strong scientific foundations for taking actions to stop the next pandemic…

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International Youth Day: Young people urged to embrace innovation in food sustainability

By Veritas Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation For Human Planetary Health In 1999, the World Conference of Ministers Responsible For Youth recommended that the 12th of August be set aside as International Youth Day.  The UN took the recommendation into consideration and, by resolution 54/120, it was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly.  The intended purpose…

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Integrated Aquaculture (Pty) Limited and Desert-foods International GmbH launch aquaponics project

Climate-resilient agriculture of the future: largest aquaponics facility in Southern Africa commenced operations most recently with a foreign direct investor as a financial sponsor – water-saving year-round farming practice is 10x times more productive than open-field agriculture. Annual harvest capacity of up to 200 tons of nutritious, local, and organically cultivated multi-crop veggie and fresh-water…

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SADC Synthesis Report Reveals Widespread Regional Food and Nutrition Insecurity

The recently released 2021 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Synthesis Report on the State of Food and Nutrition Security has revealed widespread regional food insecurity. Below, Spiked Online Media shares the Executive Summary of the report: Southern Africa suffers from widespread food and nutrition insecurity. This year, in the ten SADC Member States that submitted…

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Understanding relationships between African communities and micro climates

By Charles Dhewa Animals, birds, and trees may not speak English, Chewa, Shona, Ndebele, KiSwahili, or any other language but they certainly speak several languages which human beings are yet to master. Co-existing with microclimates and forests for generations has exposed many African communities to the secret knowledge and languages of nature. As more people…

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New Study Shows Climate Change May Increase the Spread of Plant Pathogens

The agricultural impact of climate change would be a little more straightforward if it occurred in a world where crops were free of their microbes. Research published today has found that in this hypothetical landscape, rising global temperatures will boost global agricultural productivity, partly by opening up new arable lands near the poles that were…

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Climate-Smart Agriculture Investments Required to Boost Agricultural Production in Zimbabwe

By the World Bank STORY HIGHLIGHTS A new report by the World Bank and the Government of Zimbabwe shows that more public spending in agriculture has not translated into more productivity The report warns that without Climate-Smart Agriculture Investments, Zimbabwe’s staple food crop, maize, is expected to see a 33% yield reduction by 2030 Strengthening…

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A lion’s share of climate funds must focus on restoring indigenous food systems

By Charles Dhewa For most developing countries, the COVID19 pandemic has shown the undisputed value of indigenous food. Several communities that had become used to depending on imported food and medicines suddenly discovered they can use lockdowns and restrictions to taste and use indigenous food as well as medicines that are easily an expression of…

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AfDB supports development of satellite observations for African early warning systems

The recently released Hydromet Gap Report highlighted weaknesses in Africa’s weather and climate observation systems that contribute to a lack of climate data and inadequate early warning systems. The report calls for the establishment of ground and upper air stations for basic observation and satellite data coverage to strengthen forecast and early warning mechanisms for extreme weather…

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