PELUM-ZWE member, Towards Sustainable Use of Resources Organisation (TSURO) Trust working in Chimanimani district, Manicaland province in eastern Zimbabwe is strengthening smallholder farmers’ knowledge around soil qualities so that farmers plant appropriate crops based on the type of their soils. The programme has resulted in improved yields because farmers are not only growing appropriate farm saved seeds but are also growing crops suitable for each soil type.
One of the smallholder farmers in the programme is Sarah Kamhunga Mutemera (49) who lives with her husband and their six children. Sarah has a 5 acre plot that has different soil types.
“Before joining the Zimbabwe Seed Sovereignty Programme, we just grew crops without taking note of the variations in the soil types. We paid very little attention on why particular crops were doing well on some portions of land. We were struggling to harvest enough food and we never bothered to track our harvests,” says Sarah.
Sarah joined the Zimbabwe Seed Sovereignty Programme and became a member of a Seed Study Group. She used the opportunity to experiment with different varieties of crops in order to establish the best suited for each soil type in her plot.
“Through my experiments, I have been able to identify sections of my farm suitable for finger millet varieties such as mukadzi usayende, mutangetsapi and muchena. I also realised that two Open Pollinated maize varieties that we call madzande and matserekete) yield very well in the clay soils. My plot also has sections with sandy soils best suitable for groundnut varieties such as kasawaira, bob white, mwenje, and chimhandara (flamingo), which I now grow,” says Sarah.
Sarah is happy that she made the right decision when she joined the seed study group and took part in the activities organized by TSURO Trust over the past two years.
“It is in this group that I gained more knowledge and skills on farming and seed work. I liked the idea of the study group as it presented me with more opportunities to learn through exchange visits and workshops. I have also been selected to be the leader of the seed group and seed producer. This gives me a chance to teach other group members seed selection, production, saving and exchanging,” says Sarah.
In the short period that Sarah has studied her farm soils, she has started to produce enough food for domestic consumption and she sells the surplus to raise money for household expenses.
“If smallholder farmers take time to study their soils and use indigenous seed, the future generation will not be in danger of chronic diseases and the country as a whole will achieve good health through balanced diets. I envision a situation where smallholder farmers are fully utilising their land allotments through the diversity offered by the farm saved seeds,” says Sarah.
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