Farmers cautioned to save seed for succeeding farming seasons

Silvernose Chinopera (74), a farmer from Chimanimani district who lives with his wife and five grandchildren. Silvernose is working with PELUM Zimbabwe member, Towards Sustainable Use of Resources Organisation (TSURO) Trust. Silvernose has lived in Chimanimani for 38 years. He witnessed the introduction of hybrid seeds in his community through government assistance after the disastrous drought of 1992. Before the drought, Silvernose and his family particularly enjoyed brown rice which was lost during the drought. Sadly, Silvernose had not saved the seed. Through the seed fairs organised by TSURO Trust, he has since recovered lost seed. Photo: TSURO Trust

Silvernose Chinopera (74) is a seed saver from Chimanimani district, eastern Zimbabwe. Silvernose vividly remembers the year 1992 when severe drought terrorized the nation. In one farming season, the nation was transformed from a food surplus position to a net food importer. Being an avid brown rice farmer, Silvernose suffered terribly when the drought struck.

“In 1992 there was drought and birds that hit our fields and left us with nothing to harvest,” says Silvernose.

Silvernose says he had not saved any seeds. This made it difficult for him to replant when the rains came. He felt trapped and hopeless.

“From that year, it complicated my seed security because I had nowhere to get seed and we had no means of survival besides farming,” says Silvernose.

Silvernose was forced to turn to the Government for help. He and other farmers were introduced to hybrid seeds and fertilisers.

“The Government supported us with hybrid seeds which we were not used to because we used to save our seed using our own methods and it was cheap. We started to use inorganic fertilizers which have side effects on our health and are expensive and the hybrid seed produced low yields,” says Silvernose.

Through working with Zimbabwe Seed Sovereignty Programme (ZSSP) Partner, Towards Sustainable Use of Resources Organisation (TSURO) Trust, Silvernose has reclaimed his power. He now grows and saves traditional and open pollinated variety seeds.

“This has reminded me of my traditional seed varieties that I had lost and through seed study groups, we have become one family in sharing seeds and use traditional farming methods that we had abandoned long back,” says Silvernose.

Seed fairs held at district, provincial and national levels are playing a major role in helping Silvernose to rebuild his seed bank and add new types and variety of seed.

“I have participated in seed fairs as a way to outsource seed. I have grown traditional maize seed (Chimirimiri, Madzande,), groundnuts (makuru red, kasawaira, and flamingo) groundnuts (checheni, zai radahwa) and popcorn,” says Silvernose.

Reflecting on the drought more than two decades later, Silvernose simply says, “This was a lesson to me, that I should save seed for seasons.”