Farmers in Gutu district combined agroecology practices with the Zimbabwean government’s Pfumvudza concept in order to increase food and nutrition security. Vimbai Mlambo (60), a smallholder farmer from the Chinyika Community in Gutu district says during the 2020/2021 farming season she produced sufficient food to feed her family after she applied agroecological practices on her pfumvudza plot.
“Kumikidzai Diza [a local Agriculture Extension Worker] taught me how to apply agroecology principles into pfumvudza and l started it in the 2020/2021 season. I am expecting to harvest enough food to feed my family till the next farming season,” says Vimbai.
The brainchild of pfumvudza, Foundations for farming say pfumvudza is a crop production method based on the principles and practices of Conservation Agriculture but designed to lessen labour intensity while ensuring household food security. It was introduced by Foundations for farming and was adopted by the Government and included in the Command Agricultural Scheme when it was rolled out during the 2020/2021 farming season.
Although the underlying principles of pfumvudza seek to promote sustainability, the current pfumvudza concept pushed by the Government is still based on synthetic inputs and monoculture. Experiences of smallholder farmers such as Vimbai who are integrating agroecology into it show that the integration of agroecology holds immense potential to ensure sustainable, resilient and nutritious food production.
“l will continue growing crops applying agroecology into pfumvudza because it is less expensive, you use resources that are readily available, you don’t need to buy them, says Vimbai. “Integrating pfumvudza into agroecology cuts input costs, we use locally available inputs like farm saved seeds and cattle manure,” adds Charity Kwenzani (47) an Agriculture Extension Worker working with smallholder farmers in the Chinyika Community.
Lewis Mashingaidze (58), the Director of Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre says applying agroecology principles to farming has numerous benefits.
“It is holistic and it aligns to climatic requirements of a specific area. More so, it promotes good health and clean environments, that is, it restrains the use of poisonous substances like synthetic chemicals and endorses the adoption of botanical sprays and organic soil amendments that have no negative impact to the environment. It is more economic (uses locally available resources) and diverse in its approach,” explains Lewis.
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