By Vimbai Mamhundu (27)
For many years, I watched helplessly as our crops wilted and died each season. We were always food insecure but we never knew why.
Hope came in August 2019 when some youth farmers from my community, including myself attended a Seed and Food Festival held at Shashe Block in Masvingo, organised by the Zimbabwe Smallholder Organic Farmers’ Forum (ZIMSOFF).
Some of the activities that were conducted during the festival included displays of seeds and crops that had been recently harvested by the smallholder agroecology farmers. I was so excited to learn about how some farmers were producing a lot of food using agroecology techniques. All the crops on display were traditional seeds. I learned that traditional seeds are nutritious and drought tolerant. These crops included cowpeas, groundnuts, sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet and wild vegetables.
During the festival, there was a session where participants were taught about agroecology and how it could cushion farmers from the adverse effects of climate change.
From that moment, I made a decision that I would join the agroecology movement. I motivated other youths who had also attended the festival to form a group of youth farmers who practice agroecology. Our group presently has 16 members consisting of 10 males and six females.
ZIMSOFF supported us with knowledge on making contours. We also learned about water conservation and growing diverse crops to provide all food nutrients required by the body. One of the exemplary members of the group is Madeline Dhucha (19), a young woman who lives in Mayo village under Chief Zimuto. Madeline is one of the youth farmers who has really grasped the concept of agroecology and is motivating other young farmers. Madeline produces excess traditional grains and is now focusing on looking for viable markets for her produce. Currently, she sells her produce to the local market and to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
Madeline says she is hoping that the work she is doing will also inspire more youths. She says her main challenge is that processing traditional grains is laborious and the grains are vulnerable to birds. Solutions to these challenges need to be explored. Despite these challenges, Madeline says practicing agroecology and growing traditional seeds has changed her life.
Our main aim as a youth group of farmers is to encourage all youths in our area to practice agroecology. At the moment, young people in our community face social challenges such as drug abuse and unsafe sexual practices. We hope that by spreading agroecology, we can help these youths.
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