Community gardens are being created by farmers to maximize crop yield while improving the quality of the soil and fertility of the land. With technical support from PORET, a member of PELUM Zimbabwe, farmers are learning to use agroforestry methods that promote sustainability of their gardens so that they can assure nutritious food for their families.
Anna Manjoro (58), is a widow and one of 15 farmers with beds in a community garden in Mhandarume’s Ward 2. Anna grows a variety of vegetables, including rape, mustard greens (tsunga), pumpkin leaves, carrots, and beans. Anna explains that she also has several different types of fruit trees in her garden bed because “this helps in increasing soil nutrients and provides shade for our plants.” The farmers get water for their crops from a borehole that is close to the garden, which is more than one hectare (2.7 acres) in size.
Instead of using synthetic fertilizers, the farmers use bio-fertilizers such as bokashi, a fermented organic product that adds nutrients and improves soil texture. Bokashi is made by the farmers in a process that composts food waste and other organic matter with special bacteria to create rich fertilizer.
Virginia Karisawu, PORET field officer recently organized a field visit for farmers so they could see the community garden planted by Anna and the other 14 farmers. “We offer technical support to small-scale farmers. We also create learning platforms where farmers learn from each other,” says Virginia. She says that access to water is one of the challenges faced by farmers who want to establish community gardens. Another challenge is coordinating among the farmers so they can share the task of monitoring and managing the community gardens.
Virginia says that farmers work together to solve such problems because of the benefits from community gardens: “The gardens improve aesthetic value. They also improve livelihoods and nutrition for small-scale farmers.”
Julious Piti, Director at PORET, works with PELUM Zimbabwe to promote agroforestry, which is the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems in order to create environmental, economic, and social benefits. “Agroforestry keeps plant and animal diversity while you get your crop yields. Companion plants such as creepers, legumes, fruit trees, and fodder keep the garden rich with heavy mulch. This builds soil fertility with less effort,” says Julious.
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