By Joyce Mukucha Farmers have so far delivered more than one million metric tonnes of grains to the Grain Marketing Board(GMB), a phenomenal increase from last cropping season comparative deliveries. In her post Cabinet briefing yesterday, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa said Cumulatively, 227 000 metric tonnes of wheat have…
By UN News With about 2.3 million people already suffering with serious water, food and pasture shortages in Somalia, a rapidly worsening drought could lead to an “extreme situation” by April next year. The warning comes from the United Nations and the Somali Government. Climate projections show that the country is facing a fourth consecutive…
The proper management of the environment is critical to ensure the sustainable use of aquaculture and fisheries along the value chain, a top environmentalist has said. Aquaculture is the farming of animals and plants in water. There are various important steps in the aquaculture value chain that includes production, harvesting, processing, marketing, and utilisation. Environmentalist,…
Enhancing sustainable fisheries management and aquaculture development in Africa has the potential of boosting economies on the continent. This emerged at a media training workshop that kicked off in Zanzibar, Tanzania today under the theme ‘Enhancing Sustainable Fisheries Management and Aquaculture Development in Africa.” The meeting was made possible by the African Union…
By Joyce Mukucha The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has recently announced that the UN barometer of world food prices has surged to a new peak, reaching its highest level since July 2011. The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks the international prices of a basket of food commodities, is up 3.9 per cent from September, rising for a third consecutive month. According to FAO,…
The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of Japan announced the finalisation of a resilience building programme in the district of Mount Darwin. The USD 1.25 million contribution provided by Japan in March 2021, has empowered up to 2,200 vulnerable households (approximately 11,000 individuals) in Mount Darwin and Matobo districts to enhance their food…
One of Zimbabwe’s finest chefs, Lewis Mushonga is set to release a book about cooking entitled Bika, published by iPublish House with the foreword written by Lucy Ruth, a Zimbabwean-based Canadian award-winning author, and Guinness World Record holder. The waiting is finally over! 26 November 2021 is the day of launching and releasing this much-awaited…
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…
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…
The talk-of-town, people-centred, and recently established political party, the Freedom Of Rights Under Sovereign (FORUS) has said it is the only genuine vehicle for Zimbabweans to enjoy a secure and prosperous future. The party President, Manyara Irene Muyenziwa (MIM) said a Foundation she founded under her name in 2021 is implementing practical and tangible activities…
The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has urged the international community to join hands to assist and save the lives of vulnerable Afghans who are experiencing the most difficult times after the Taliban seized power a couple of weeks ago. Leading the appeal in Geneva for $606 million to support emergency aid for 11…
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’…
The Government of Zimbabwe and the UN System have rolled out a series of national and provincial dialogues on Food Systems as part of the preparation for the global Food Systems Summit, which will take place at the UN General Assembly in September in New York. In his keynote address on the Third Stage National…
International Power Ministries founder Rangarirayi Hungwe donated food hampers to senior citizens residing in Hopley, Harare South recently. It was an emotional but celebratory event when the grannies in the highly impoverished settlement received a food hamper each to alleviate them from starvation that is common in the area just as in most impoverished societies….
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…
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…
Step into the tattered shoes of these young innocent souls. It’s hard having a mother out of reach, incarcerated; unable to be taken care of. Rumbling sounds of an empty stomach every day and night; sleepless nights thinking, “Am I ready to face the next day?” How do you feel? Jedidiah Trust has taken the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Fresh. Exquisite. Dependable. Majestic. Refreshing. Compact. Versatile. Different. This is a fair trial but inadequate attempt to describe Victoria Falls’ most recent, attractive, and popular citadel of tourism and hospitality services – the Zambezi Guest House. It is completely private – secluded and nestled in a peaceful suburb of Victoria Falls, approximately a 1 km…
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…
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 Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) INTRODUCTION During the month of May, a new variant of COVID-19, the Indian Variant B.1.617, was detected in Kwekwe. Subsequent to this, the government imposed a two-week lockdown covering the entire district: the City of Kwekwe, Redcliff town, and the surrounding farming areas in Kwekwe Rural District Council. Measures…
Cognisant of the fact that following COVID-19-induced hardships, most families in Zimbabwe are facing hunger and starvation, the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) is extending its giving hand by distributing food hampers to deserving families across the country. Speaking during the food distribution exercise in Chitungwiza on Monday 3 May 2021, Mr Can…
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 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….
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) is crying foul over a recent letter in which Finance and Economic Development Minister Prof Mthuli Ncube insisted that retailers should pay Value Added Tax (VAT) on rice for periods backdated to 2017 on packages of 25kg or less. In the letter, Prof Ncube said Treasury could not accede…
Strengthening food systems must be an integral part of efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and to build resilience in Africa, said African Development Bank Director General for Southern Africa, Leila Mokaddem. Hunger is a greater threat to many Africans than the COVID-19 crisis, Mokaddem said in a session on sustainable food systems at the Southern…
By Charles Dhewa Good rainfall seasons across Africa are not only characterized by an abundance of domesticated crops and livestock but an increase in the availability of non-domesticated natural food resources. Such resources range from edible insects to indigenous fruits, tubers, vegetables, mushrooms, and small indigenous animals. While some are prevalent in high rainfall regions,…
By Joyce Mukucha Following successive droughts over the past few years that negatively affected agricultural growth in Zimbabwe, farmers in rural areas are overwhelmed with joy because the rains have remained above normal throughout the country in the 2020 -2021 cropping season. Spiked Online Media conducted interviews with various farmers in different provinces who expressed…
The SADC Regional Vulnerability Committee Chair, António Pacheco Dias Lima on 22 February 2021 called on member states, to find ways to share success stories, opportunities, and progress captured in the national Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis to inform food security interventions as the region battles COVID-19 and record high levels of food insecurity Dias Lima…
By John Wilson Following up on the theme of changing our ‘machine’-leaning mindsets, whenever we are dealing with life and not machines, I’ve been giving plenty of thought the last few weeks to what most people call ‘weeds’. Many people don’t like this term, especially those who eat them. I’m one of those. My laptop…
Following the millions of hectares that were repossessed by the black majority during the land reform programme, the Government has assured the nation that there will be sufficient maize through the food self sufficiency programmes. The Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, Dr. Anxious Masuka said this year, the nation will have…
By Joyce Mukucha The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Liaison Office with the United Nations (UN) in New York in collaboration with Emerging Ag Inc, governments, non-governmental organizations, and all other relevant stakeholders yesterday held a virtual event to celebrate World Pulses Day. The event which was aimed at raising awareness and recognising the contribution…
Spiked Online Media caught up with a survivor of COVID-19 who paid tribute to food consultant and expertise, Rumbidzai Mukori, but chose to remain anonymous. Below is the testimony: A moment of reflection.. Feeling abandoned nearly destroyed all the hope in me, but that’s when I realised it’s a mistake to ever look for hope…
By Charles Dhewa Since March 2020 when COVID19 first showed up in Africa, mass food markets have continued to play their critical functions although policy support has continued to be directed to processing companies and supermarkets. In 2021, COVID19 did not just confirm the importance of a strong immune system but has also revealed the strengths…
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 Ross D The vaping industry has witnessed a tremendous growth rate over the past few years. And if recent projections are anything to go by, the industry may not be slowing down anytime soon. One of the reasons behind the meteoritic rise in the vaping culture is the fact that most people no longer…
By Dexter Chagwena This Covid 19 pandemic has brought special attention to herbal remedies or functional foods, naturally regarded for both their nutritional and health benefits. Most of us commonly know these as herbs or complementary and alternative medicines. Everyone is busy looking for something traditional to use, with an aim to boost our immunity…
… 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 Rumbidzai Mukori A new study from Lancet, has found that obesity is one of the three greatest risk factors for Covid-19. As those who are overweight and obese remain infected several days longer than their aged-matched leaner counterparts. Weight monitoring is essential to all in these times of coronavirus. We have to take note…
