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The Manyara Irene Muyenziwa (MIM) Foundation is positively impacting communities through the provision of empowerment initiatives and giving hope for a brighter future for all, including the youths. Inspired by God’s love for humanity, the Manyara Irene Muyenziwa Foundation was founded in 2021 with the aim of giving people of Zimbabwe hope through solutions to…
Extreme weather is slamming crops across the globe, bringing with it the threat of further food inflation at a time costs are already hovering near the highest in a decade and hunger is on the rise. Brazil’s worst frost in two decades brought a deadly blow to young coffee trees in the world’s biggest grower. Flooding in…
By Marlvin Ngiza Citizens have been challenged to preserve the natural ecosystem and ensure that safety measures against veld fires have been put in place in order to avoid the loss of lives and valuables as the veld fire season approaches with the risk for 2021 season predicted to be extreme. Environmental Management Agency (EMA)…
A technical cooperation (TCP) project launched yesterday seeks to strengthen agricultural extension services in Zimbabwe. Officiating the official launch of the TCP project, Dr. John Basera, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement expressed his profound gratitude to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO ) for working hard…
Competition provides cash grants to innovators, increasing use of technology and creating jobs across Africa’s agricultural sector The African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) and Heifer International on Monday announced the launch of Pitch AgriHack 2021, a competition focused on accelerating entrepreneurial growth and job creation in the agriculture sector by leveraging advanced technologies and youth participation…
Doug McClymont on Zimunda Farming Magazine With some of the excellent wheat crops around the country, one should now be concentrating on getting the most out of the situation. The question that every wheat grower has to answer for himself, is: “when do I stop irrigating?” To complete the season involves irrigating out the wheat,…
By Charles Dhewa Knowledge Transfer Africa (KTA) has been providing attachment or internship to university students since 2014 in agricultural mass markets where the organization works. Attachment/internship opportunities have been offered to students studying agricultural economics, pure economics, banking &finance, food science, sociology, geography & environmental science, development studies, ICTs, supply chain management and many…
Young people across the world will need to step forward if global agri-food systems are to become more sustainable and the world is to fully recover from COVID-19. That was the message delivered at a July 14 side event of the 2021 UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF). “The future of food belongs to the young…
Maxwell Ochoo’s first attempt at farming was a dismal failure. In Ochieng Odiere, a village near the shores of Kenya’s Lake Victoria, “getting a job is a challenge,” the 34-year-old says. To earn some money and help feed his family, he turned to farming. In 2017, he planted watermelon seeds on his 0.7-hectare plot. Right…
The Government of Germany, through the German Federal Foreign Office, has contributed EUR 3 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Zimbabwe to support highly vulnerable communities struggling to meet their basic food needs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This is part of a EUR 18 million contribution by Germany to Southern Africa…
The third Southern African Development Community (SADC) Youth Forum will focus on the importance of the Blue and Green Economy to drive sustainable development. The Southern Africa Youth Forum (SAYoF-SADC) is a regional development platform for youth in the SADC region, works with SADC Secretariat, SADC-CNGO, SAT among other regional organizations to empower young people…
Between a death and a burial was hardly the best time to show up in a remote village in Madagascar to make a pitch for forest protection. Bad timing, however, turned out to be the easy problem. This forest was the first one that botanist Armand Randrianasolo had tried to protect. He’s the first native…
By Charles Dhewa When agro-based African countries embrace a foreign currency mentality, there is a serious danger of marginalizing the majority of economic actors like farmers who do not need foreign currency for their daily needs. It becomes difficult for people to be patriotic about their currency when the reserve bank is always focusing on…
Written by Makanatsa Makonese (PhD Published by Weaver Press: 38 Broadlands Road, Emerald Hill, Harare, Zimbabwe (https://weaverpresszimbabwe.com/store) Also available from: 1) African Books Collective: (https://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/women-law-and-power) 2) Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Women-Law-Power-Perspectives-Zimbabwes/dp/1779223986/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=women%2C+law+and+power&qid=1624450262&s=books&sr=1-1 As reflected in my own life, the land question has been an enduring issue in the history of Zimbabwe. From pre-colonial times to the modern-day post-colonial State…
The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) and Fairtrade Africa (FTA) on Thursday signed a collaborative pact aimed at addressing the effects of climate change on trade from smallholder farming, and respective producer groups across Africa. Signed in Nairobi, Kenya the memorandum of understanding between the two leading coalitions on climate change and trade will seek…
By Million Belay, Bridget Mugambe on July 6, 2021 Africans have long been told that our agriculture is backward and should be abandoned for a 21st-century version of the Green Revolution that enabled India to feed itself. Western science and technology, in the form of seeds modified by science and technology, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, petroleum-fueled machinery, and…
(Geneva) Highlights from the Memorandum of Understanding between the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) and the International Trade Centre (ITC): The two organizations will collaborate over the next three years in Zambia The project is set to double the incomes of at least 50,000 cotton growers ICAC will involve two of its most advanced technologies:…
Honourable Johnson Madhuku, the Member of the House of Assembly for Bikita East Constituency has said his leadership style is anchored on development, not rumour-mongering. The sentiments come hard on the heels of a major collaboration among the country’s law enforcement agency – the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the Chikuku Community Development Foundation Trust and the…
By Charles Dhewa Why does African agriculture continue to lack uniqueness? For how long is it going to be all about using the same template to produce the same crops? This would not be happening if agriculture was not controlled by seed companies who use farmers’ and farm fields as platforms for selling seeds. Across…
PATRICK WORMS Assisted natural processes are a recipe for success With all those well-meaning efforts to plant trees out there, the alarm is justifiably being raised that sometimes, those trees will do more harm than good. That’s why it’s helpful to start any tree project with the thought that the objective is to “regenerate with…
By Charles Dhewa Why African food systems need watchdogs and whistle-blowers One of the key lessons from COVID19 for African agro-based economies is the importance of fast and frequent early warning systems. Countries are being forced to think about how early is early? Vulnerability assessments whose results and reports come out after a month or…
A giant insurer, Nyaradzo Group’s Sahwira Agriculture (Pvt) Limited is poised to maximise food production, Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Philip Mataranyika has said. “Sahwira Agriculture has been established as a special purpose company backed by Nyaradzo Life Assurance Company as its anchor investor, with management oversight from Nyaradzo Asset Management. “The company’s core activity is…
Zimbabwe is taking commendable steps to combat desertification and hunger, Honourable Mangaliso Ndlovu, the Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry has said. The Minister revealed this on the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought on 17 June 2021. Zimbabwe as a party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification continues to…
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has trained the media on how to use Data Journalism for Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (VAA) data in their work. Alfred Hermida contends that data journalism draws on fields such as information visualization, computer science, and statistics to convey news through the analysis and representation of quantitative, computer-processed data….
The agricultural sector is the backbone of many economies in Southern Africa and Zimbabwe is no exception. A look back at Zimbabwe’s agricultural industry over the years shows the important role played by this sector in contributing to the economic development of the country. Croco Commercial which is a subsidiary of Croco Motors is accessible…
The African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group and the Centre for Disaster Protection have entered into a partnership agreement to mutually promote technical collaboration on capacity building, research, and advocacy through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) jointly signed by the chief executives of both institutions. Under the MoU, the parties will explore opportunities and leverage their…
The world’s soils, which provide 95% of humanity’s food, are “under great pressure”, according to a UN report on soil pollution. Soils are also the largest active store of carbon, after the oceans, and therefore crucial in fighting the climate crisis. But the report said industrial pollution, mining, farming, and poor waste management are poisoning soils,…
By Charles Dhewa While the profile of indigenous food has been rising over the past few years across Africa, policymakers are yet to direct policies and public spending to the majority of indigenous commodities. A lot of support continues to be directed at exotic commodities that are being threatened more by a changing climate. Sweet…
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA’s) is mooting the establishment of an agro-industrial park (AIP) for Zambia and Zimbabwe. This emerged during the ECA Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa’s virtual validation session for a study assessing the feasibility of establishing and managing a common Agro-Industrial Park (AIP) between the two countries held on Monday. An…
By Charles Dhewa Knowledge retention is still to receive the attention it deserves in sustaining African agriculture and rural development. Most efforts focus on knowledge generation and sharing which is mostly a supply-driven approach. As long as communities and farmers do not have mechanisms for retaining knowledge, it remains difficult for them to sustain their…
Environmentalists made this call during the third session of a dryland fellowship thematic training organised by Climate Tracker which was held virtually, Thursday. Amidst a profound surge in the negative impacts of land degradation due to human activities across the continent of Africa, sustainable environmental practices advocates have called for the intensification of proactive and…
The majority of farms worldwide are small farms. New FAO research sheds a light on these farms and their contribution to the world food supply. The world’s smallholder farmers produce around a third of the world’s food, according to new research published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in April…
Stakeholders have been urged to prevent veld fires whose impacts are multifaceted and a threat to the biophysical, social and economic environment because of their trail of destruction that cuts across all sectors of the economy. Wildfires constitute 10% of the world’s emissions and nearly half of this is related to Southern Africa. In Southern…
By Charles Dhewa Market literacy is more important than financial literacy Financial literacy has gained prominence as a necessary intervention in most developing countries. However, what has become clear in most agro-based African countries is that market literacy is more important than financial literacy because the market provides the broader context in which financial literacy…
By Charles Dhewa While the majority of youths in African countries are still interested in white-collar jobs, a monthly salary, or wage, agriculture offers new platforms for young people to participate in creating their own employment. These opportunities extend from communal to urban farming. The growth of urban agriculture has been driven by the need…
The Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) drew to a close with a call to recognize and enhance the role of soil organisms in sustaining life on Earth. Soils are one of the main global reservoirs of biodiversity. They host more than 25 percent…
Healthy forests are key to “building back better”, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General QU Dongyu said last week in his video address to the high-level round table at the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF, 26-30 April 2021). In his remarks, the Director-General extolled the many virtues of forests, including ensuring people’s food security…
IFAD said it aimed to provide an additional US$1.5 billion to Africa to support national efforts to transform food and agricultural systems over the next three years A coalition of multilateral development banks and development partners has pledged over US$17 billion in financing on Friday during a high-level forum, in a bold bid to address…
By Charles Dhewa Except in Burkina Faso and Uganda, parliamentary debates in the majority of agro-based African economies are completely disconnected from issues that affect ordinary people daily. Ideally, Members of Parliament (MPs) from production zones should be conversant with issues in their constituencies to be able to articulate the situation convincingly. Unfortunately, that is…
by Pat Mooney The idea of a Food Systems Summit seemed timely when it was announced in 2019 by the World Economic Forum and the UN Secretary-General’s Office. But while the need was widely appreciated, the unorthodox proposal by Davos to expand “stakeholder capitalism” to encompass the United Nations alarmed some involved in the food movement….
By Charles Dhewa The COVID19 pandemic has provided sufficient reasons why agro-based countries should not wait until there is a crisis to invest in data collection, analyses, and sharing. Given the extent to which agriculture is a baseline for most African economies, the value of agricultural data is increasing daily. If organizations working in the…
By Habakkuk Trust Women in Bulilima Ward 11 have raised calls of despondency in the wake of heightened elephant invasions which are threatening to push them deeper into vulnerability. The elephant invasions which have been ongoing for the past three weeks have resulted in crop and field infrastructure losses. Habakkuk Trust Community Advocacy Action Team…
By Charles Dhewa Marginalized communities and farmers always find it difficult to access relevant and reliable information. Their capacity to objectively assess that information is also inadequate. The situation is worse during the marketing season when information overload increases especially from different buyers competing to portray themselves as offering the best deal for unsuspecting farmers….
After a dark 2020, a new year has brought new hope. In Africa, where up to 40 million more people were driven into extreme poverty and the continent experienced its first recession in 25 years, a brighter future beckons as the economy is forecast to return to growth this year. Africa now has an opportunity…
Cycads, the world’s oldest seed-producing plants, are facing extinction. Africa is home to a variety of cycad species and South Africa is regarded as a global hotspot for cycad diversity. One of the most prominent cycad taxa, the genus Encephalartos, is endemic to Africa and is categorised as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This…
