Rosemary Zunde (62) had a very specific goal in mind when she traveled 121 kilometres to attend the Food and Seed Festival in Gutu. She was seeking madras shoots and she was delighted to find some at the festival. Rosemary is a small-scale farmer from Bikita ward 21 in Masvingo working with PELUM Zimbabwe member, Zimbabwe Smallholder Organic Farmers Forum (ZIMSOFF).
“I am glad this festival has given me the opportunity to get the shoots. I look forward to getting more seeds,” says Rosemary.
Rosemary hopes that the next festival is well publicized so that even more farmers come to exchange seeds.
This was the first year that the festival was held in Gutu district. For the past years, PELUM Zimbabwe has helped to coordinate the festival at national level. The national festival is held in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. Holding the festival in Gutu this year is part of the efforts to decentralize seed and food celebrations so more farmers and other stakeholders can attend.
“I am very happy to have the food and seed festival in Gutu for the first time,” says Bertha Deketa (45) a smallholder farmer who lives in ward 14 in Chikwanda village located in Masvingo province.
“This is my first time to attend the food and seed festival, l never got the opportunity to attend the festival in Harare. I look forward to more of these festivals in future,” adds Bertha.
Bertha says that she gained useful information on how to preserve seeds. She brought a variety of seeds to share and exchange with other farmers. As a dedicated seed custodian, Bertha has a special seedbank (hozi) in her home.
“I brought different seeds to the good food and seed festival, these includes round nuts, cowpeas, fingermillet, sorghum, maize and madras. I am a custodian of seeds, l keep these seeds in a seedbank (hozi) which l built using poles, dagga and grass,” says Bertha.
Anna Rungwe (42) is another smallholder farmer from Gutu district in Masvingo who attended the festival and is happy about the skills and knowledge she acquired during the festival.
“l am very happy with this decentralized festival because l got new knowledge. I have learnt how to cook different types of sadza using finger millet and sorghum and how to cook mushrooms with butternut. l have also learnt how to preserve seeds using different methods like a bottle and clay pot,” says Anna.
Brian Muvindi (35), the Training Officer at Shashe agroecology training school working for ZIMSOFF points out the benefits of decentralizing the festival so that more farmers can attend.
“Communities can easily learn through participating and learning. Many farmers have the opportunity to attend the event. It creates cordial relationships with the farmers,” says Brian.
“I am pleased that the Food and Seed Festival in Gutu has inspired and encouraged farmers,” adds Brian.
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