Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. DUMISANI Kutywayo, the director for Research and Specialist Services Department in the Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, has commended smallholder farmers for their role in sustaining the nation’s food systems.
Addressing farmers at the National Botanic Gardens in Harare during the Seed and Food Festival recently, Kutywayo stressed out the importance of farmer-managed seeds systems, describing them as the backbone to seed and food sovereignty the only path to ensuring food and nutrition security amid climate shocks.
“These farmer-managed seed systems have sustained us as Zimbabweans and Africans for generations, producing safe, healthy and nutritious traditional Zimbabwean food,” he said.
“Therefore, we must continue to advocate and fight for the protection of farmer varieties.
“Our smallscale farmers, and especially women, are the custodians of our seed heritage, the living libraries of our agroecological wisdom, and the vanguard of food and seed sovereignty.”
This year’s seed fair, which was running under the theme Nurturing our Future, Reviving our Heritage, offered a platform to celebrate the country’s diverse traditional seeds and foods as well as the sharing, exchange and trade in them.
He added that the government remains aligned with such initiatives, citing Zimbabwe’s ratification of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) in 2005, the treaty recognises farmers’ rights to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seeds, alongside the protection of traditional knowledge and equitable participation in decision-making.
In an interview with NewsDay Weekender, Zimbabwe Small Organic Farmers Forum (Zimsoff) secretary-general Boas Mawara said: “Agroecology is basically taking back people to practise the type of farming that was being used a long time ago by our forefathers (who) would dig holes and plant a variety of crops and they would harvest a lot.
“Now that we have brought it back, small scale farmers have saved money and also created their own market of organic seeds, which are drought resistant.”
He added: “This event is very helpful to our smallholder farmers, it’s not us who have seeds, thus this event is important to farmers as they exchange seeds that they do not have with other farmers, also farmers get to make profits from their harvests.”
A farmer with Zimsoff, Christopher Chinyoka, said the event has been helpful to farmers as they learnt from each other.
For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe Follow Africa-Press
