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By Joyce Mukucha The Government has said it was geared to roll out a number of programs to achieve food security in the country and ensure that by the year 2023, no commodities such as maize and other grains will be imported. The efforts are aimed at ensuring that farmers in the country get adequate…
By Joyce Mukucha In the wake of the ongoing novel coronavirus global pandemic, the Women in Agriculture Union (WAU) has bemoaned the adverse implications of COVID-19. The pandemic is negatively impacted the agriculture sector, productivity and supply chain with women farmers being worst hit. The WAU chairperson and founder who is also a woman farmer,…
By Joyce Mukucha Living in rural Africa presents several unique challenges that increase the likelihood of food insecurity leading to global poverty being overwhelmingly rural particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa with Zimbabwe remaining in the grip of severe food insecurity. The study by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health titled: “Drought Influences on…
The World Bank, in its Global Economic Prospect 2021, has said Uganda’s agricultural sector will be among the most resilient sector in 2021. Uganda, the World Bank said, will be among the five countries in sub-Saharan Africa that will experience the least contraction in agriculture. This, according to the World Bank, implies that agriculture will…
African climate-linked migration tends to be dominated by European narratives. In reality, most of these migrants move within their own countries and regions. As climate change impacts intensify, migration will increase. African cities, countries and regions need to be more aware of the phenomenon and incorporate it into all levels of planning. Despite contributing only…
By Staff Reporter The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement intends to withdraw the offer of land made to the late hero and Anti-Corruption Commissioner Shepherd Gwasira in respect of Subdivision 1 measuring 2 757.97HA of CONS of Lot 1 SS Ranch, Rem of SS Ranch and Mete farm in the District of…
… Part of a global package worth £47 million to provide food, nutrition, water and shelter to help over 1.3 million vulnerable people in 9 countries and regions, including Zimbabwe. New UN data reveals humanitarian crises are worsening around the world, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, 235 million people are expected to be in need…
By Ecosystem Based Adaptation For Food Security Assembly (EBAFOSA) For a year now, the COVID-19 pandemic has been at the centre of news across the globe and Africa. In Africa where estimates put the effects of the pandemic to affect the economy of Africa to around a fall of 1.4% of its GDP,with smaller economies…
By John Wilson First, our mindset: I keep finding myself coming back to the question of mindset. Without a change in mindset people don’t get agroecology. But more than that, even those who get it, myself included, are still stuck to some extent in what I’d call a ‘machine mindset’. That was the mindset most…
By Joyce Mukucha For the past years, Zimbabwe’s economy has been deteriorating with its population facing an extraordinary and multidimensional crisis. Many, especially young people have become victims to the economic meltdown that has seen companies closing and investors leaving in droves with an estimated three million Zimbabweans having crossed the Limpopo River into South…
By Joyce Mukucha The government has challenged the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to execute its mandate by ensuring that it becomes an active participant in driving the nation’s economic vibrance and growth agenda. The Grain Marketing Board occupies a central role in safeguarding the country’s food security but its operational inefficiencies have affected the successful…
By John Wilson It is becoming increasingly apparent that the main drivers of life on Mother Earth are microbial. Perhaps the difficulty in recognizing this is because without a microscope we can’t see this incredibly complex world. Unfortunately, probably because we can’t see it, we have often brought devastation to this microbial world. Most of…
By Jan Urhahn Translation by Loren Balhorn The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation promised Africa a “Green Revolution” to fight hunger and poverty. It hasn’t worked — but it has upped corporate agriculture’s profits. Local farmers are being left empty-handed, and hunger is rising. Over the last five years, the number of people around the world…
By Charles Dhewa Digital inclusion, financial inclusion, gender inclusion and several other forms of inclusion have received too much attention over the past few years including 2020. What has been ignored is the mother of all inclusions – knowledge inclusion. All forms of inclusion are meaningless when knowledge existing within ordinary people and communities is…
With millions of Zimbabweans devastated by a year of drought, rising hyperinflation and COVID-19, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on 17 December 2020 appealed for an additional US$204 million to support over four million of the most food-insecure over the next six months. The appeal comes ahead of the ‘lean’ season, which risks…
By Charles Dhewa In spite of efforts to improve market linkages and direct income to farmers, most African markets continue to be constrained by a disorganized supply of commodities. While the main problem with formal markets like supermarkets is taking fewer volumes and paying farmers peanuts after a long time, for open markets a major…
By K Rathna (Express News Service) MYSURU: 50-year-old farmer in a village in Karnataka has shown, like Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka before him, that from “nothingness” can emerge beautiful forests and farms. Krishnappa Dasappa Gowda’s farm in Bannur village, T Narasipur taluk, looks less like a typical agricultural field, and more like a forest in all…
By Joyce Mukucha Climate change is one of the 21st century human catastrophes with its impacts being felt globally and Zimbabwe has not been spared. These impacts range from increased rainfall variability, prolonged dry spells, heat waves, as well as increased occurrence of extreme weather events such as drought and flooding. The small-scale farmers in…
With funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has launched the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) and nutritional garden training programme for migrant returnees. Developed and conducted by Foundations for Farming (FfF), the CSA nutritional garden trainings encompass all the principles of Conservation Agriculture (CA) and the FfF Implementation…
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and CropLife International in early October renewed and strengthened their commitment to work together and find new ways to transform agri-food systems and promote rural development through on the ground investment and innovation. During a virtual meeting, FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and Giulia Di Tommaso,…
By Joice Mukucha (Staff reporter) Action Aid Zimbabwe is at the forefront of building the country’s resilience to climate change-induced shocks and disasters that affect food and nutrition security. The institution has partnered the Government in launching the Zimbabwe Food Security Policy Brief after noticing the impacts of climate change-induced shocks such as Cyclone Idai…
The uptake of digital agricultural tools and services around the world will be tracked by researchers in the Netherlands to help guide investment and boost food production. Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands will continue the work of the EU-funded institution, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), which is winding down…
The Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) has reported that an increase in food insecurity in Zimbabwe is being driven by poor harvests, reduced income and high food prices but is partially mitigated by increased humanitarian food assistance. Below, Spiked Online Media reproduces snippets from the report: Current Situation Overview (Oct-Dec 2020) Currently, 2.61 million people…
By Charles Dhewa Contrary to approaches promoted by most development agencies, African communities cannot be developed by fixing weaknesses but tapping into existing strengths. No wonder most interventions focusing on vulnerable households have failed to lift people out of poverty despite pouring millions of dollars. Every community has champions whose strengths need to be harnessed in…
Windmill Private Limited Company’s stock-feeds are tried and tested for the local environment before they are put on the market and that is the reason why they are becoming the first choice for Zimbabwean farmers. Below, Spiked Online Media talks about Windmill products on offer: BROILER FEEDS BROILER STARTER MASH/CRUMBS (21% CRUDE PROTEIN) Feed broiler…
Mathew M. Abang (PhD, MBA) When compared with other regions of the world, Southern Africa’s GDP growth between 2011 and 2017 was higher than that of advanced economies. However, the Southern Africa region (the Member States of the Southern African Development Community – SADC) failed to maintain the growth momentum and had the lowest growth…
By Charles Dhewa In the face of intensifying climate change, voices calling for Africans to go back to their original food systems are getting louder. Such voices are guided by changes in the natural phenomena that once existed in several African communities and countries. Many voices are lamenting the fact that policymakers have embraced foreign…
By Mercia Andrews Rural African women are often made invisible, hidden and marginalised in leadership structures. By organising themselves in social movements, women in Southern Africa have amplified their voices to challenge agri-business and patriarchal oppression while advancing agroecology and building new leadership for a feminist agroecology. In Africa, rural women have to struggle against…
By Anyway Yotamu Traditionally, women in Zimbabwe did not take up any major roles in agriculture, leaving it mostly to men. But a new crop of ladies has taken up a bigger role in the sector. Women in Agriculture Union (WAU) National Coordinator Olga Nhari said the economic benefits of farming have enticed more young…
By Shamain Nyamutswa The Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) dairy farmers are facing challenges in providing food for their cattle due to economic instability and inflation. This has left them unable to buy stock feeds leading to the high death rate of their livestock recently. Milk and milk products are being sold in local…
Mr. Munesushe Munodawafa, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism, and Hospitality industry has said that wetland loss and degradation cost the country millions of dollars. He was speaking at the Wetlands and Policy Guidelines Sensitisation Workshop held at the Cresta Churchill Hotel in Bulawayo yesterday. “It is important to note that…
The Green Climate Fund is positioned to achieve sustainable transformation through resilience building across the agricultural and environmental management value chain. The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, and Rural Resettlement, Climate Change Department, and UNDP Zimbabwe yesterday launched the Green Climate Fund (GCF) ‘Building Climate Resilience of Vulnerable Agricultural Livelihoods in Southern Zimbabwe project. …
By Charles Dhewa Avenues for aligning agriculture with the nutritional needs of citizens Pathways for successfully converting rhetoric surrounding nutrition security into reality should include collecting and analysing data from local communities to national levels and markets. Such data can include the volume and value of agricultural commodities flowing from each production versus the amount…
By John Wilson There’s a mistaken belief that keeps re-emerging that agroecology is about going backwards. It may be a convenient way to dismiss it. Nevertheless, how do we challenge and reverse this mistaken perspective? “If we don’t deepen our relationship with Nature and reconnect to our culture and history that are deeply embedded in…
By Anyway Yotamu The country’s leading poultry and eggs producer, Irvine’s Zimbabwe has demonstrated their continued support and commitment to the government’s command agriculture policy by building another fully equipped chicken production house with a capacity of 2500 broilers at Ntabeni Primary School, Entumbane in Bulawayo as part of the company’s Command Livestock Agricultural partnership…
International Trade Centre (ITC) Executive Director, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, today launched the United Kingdom Trade Partnerships (UKTP) Programme in Zimbabwe. Attendees at the launch included government officials, international organisations, the private sector, farmers associations and smallholder farmers. The UKTP Programme assists farmers and producers suffering from trade disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by unlocking the…
By Charles Dhewa Livestock-based development interventions in many African countries have largely focused on replacing local breeds with imported ones. This is in spite of imported cattle, pigs, goats, and chickens struggling to survive in dry regions characterized by climate-induced shocks. The fact that most imported livestock breeds survive on specially designed commercial feed makes…
Despite being confronted by the adverse impacts of climate change and COVID-19, grassroots women are united in the fight for disaster mitigation, adaptation, recovery and resilience building. This emerged today at the 2020 Grassroots Women Resilience Building National Convention organised by the Zimbabwe Parents of Handicapped Children Association (ZPHCA). This year’s edition of the Resilience…
Agriculture and mining are driving the Zimbabwean economy hence the need for serious investment in the two sectors, Dr. Anxious Masuka, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, and Rural Resettlement has said. He made the remarks during an interface meeting with stakeholders in the agricultural and mining value chain during the 110th edition of the…
Addressing the wild meat trade and restoring landscapes, key to preventing the next pandemics On 28-29 October, Dr. Peter Daszak, Sir Robert Watson, Elizabeth Mrema and more than 250 other experts at the Global Landscapes Forum Digital Biodiversity Conference ‘One World, One Health’ called for integrating biodiversity and landscape perspectives into efforts to prevent future outbreaks of zoonoses – diseases of…
As the 2020-2021 agricultural season kicks off, commercial farmers have been urged to capitalise on local initiatives for the installation and servicing of farm machinery and equipment to ensure the smooth flow of operations. Speaking at a media briefing after the unveiling of Power Giants Private Limited’s Mutare branch, the firm’s general manager – Manicaland Province…
One of the leading golden leaf players in the country, Norton Tobacco is proving to be the missing link that farmers need to succeed. Riding on its unique product offers, Norton Leaf Tobacco is providing tobacco farmers with essential farming inputs each and every season. Speaking to this publication, Mr. Richard Machingura, the Norton Leaf…
By Charles Dhewa The rate at which food systems is becoming a buzzword suggests the world has quietly shifted from a farming systems approach to a food systems approach for good reasons. A food systems approach looks at the entire ecology through which food is produced, consumed, lost, value added as well as roles of…
They say empower a woman to empower the whole community. This statement is proving to be true through youthful female climate change champions who are doing wonders in their communities to adapt to and mitigate the phenomenon. In an interview with Spiked Online Media, Elizabeth Gulugulu Machache, the Project Manager of the African Youth Initiative…
