Ngoni Dapira

THE Environment, Climate and Wildlife Minister Evelyn Ndlovu highly praised the great work being done by Zimbabwean professionals in climate smart agriculture projects running in 11 countries under the Global Environment Facility Seventh Cycle (GEF-7) Dryland Sustainable Landscapes Impact Programme (DSL-1P) that was initiated in 2021.

Minister Ndlovu said this during the commissioning of Mutiusinazita Community Seed Bank in ward 27, Buhera South recently. The project is being funded by GEF-7 and led by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN). In Zimbabwe it is being implemented by government institutions namely, Environment Management Agency (EMA), Forestry Commission, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) and two NGOs, World Vision Zimbabwe and the Community Technology Development Organisation (CTDO).

Min Ndlovu (standing) during the briefing at Mutiusinazita Seed Bank.

A seed bank is a facility that preserves plant genetic diversity by drying, freezing and storing seeds for long term conservation. The seed bank acts as a biological safety net against plant extinction, climate change and agricultural crises, ensuring that crops and native species can be regrown when needed.

Minister Ndlovu applauded the strong work ethic of Zimbabweans after GEF-7 national project coordinator Precious Magwaza announced that Zimbabwe is providing technical support to other countries in the GEF-7 project. The project aims to mainstream sustainable land and forest management practices, combat land degradation and to strengthen ecosystem and climate resilience for improved livelihoods. The US$104 million flagship programme is running in 11 nations in Africa and Asia. In Africa its running in Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, whilst in Asia its in Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

“Hon Minister we are pleased to inform you that as Zimbabwe we are offering technical support to other countries. GEF-7 is in 11 countries and Zimbabwe is spearheading the Community Seed Bank (CSB) projects, offering technical support in all the countries in the region. We are calling our seed banks centres of excellence where we demonstrate sustainable practices that they will do at their homes,” said Magwaza.

Women from Mutiusinazita Seed Bank showcasing their produce.

Community Technology Development Organisation (CTDO) executive director Tonderai Andrew Mushita added that to show how Zimbabwe is leading in climate smart agriculture, last year Zimbabwe was number one in the SADC region after it deposited over 1000 accessions to the global seed bank in Svalbard in Norway, breaking history as the first SADC region country to ever deposit that much to the global seed vault. CTDO is one of the NGOs implementing the project.

“Everything cultivatable is conserved through the community seed bank which then feeds to the national seed bank. The national seed bank then feeds into the SADC region seed bank in Lusaka, Zambia, then from there to the global seed bank in Svalbard in Norway,” said Mushita.

He added that to also show how as a country Zimbabwe has the leading brains on climate smart agriculture, the Zimbabwe framework of the Farmer Managed Systems Policy was adopted by the African Union (AU), and it will be launched in October by the AU.

Min Ndlovu said Zimbabweans are known world over for their hard work ethic and ability to deliver when assigned to do any work.

“I am proud of what Zimbabweans are doing. Our Ministry of Agriculture is raising the flag allover the world. Last year at the World Governments Summit in Dubai the Minister of Agriculture Dr Masuku (Anxious) was awarded the Best Minister in the World for agricultural transformation and climate resilient farming models. Our Ministry of Environment is highly referenced on protecting the environment. We are demonstrating that we have the ability and brains to do things when assigned and we do things diligently. This is what is being attested here in Buhera today as we officially open this second community seed bank project,” said the Environment Minister.

Adding, “We have the ability to transform our agricultural system and restore our traditional small grains. This also goes with the First Lady’s (Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa) programme of promoting the gastronomy industry in the country. We are in the right path. Zimbabweans we are all over the world because we have the brains and knowledge, but we now need to use this knowledge to rebuild and develop our country.”

FAO Sub-regional coordinator for Southern Africa, Dr Patrice Talla Takoukam

FAO Sub-regional coordinator for Southern Africa, Dr Patrice Talla Takoukam commended the passion towards the seed bank project shown by the Buhera community. He said the community are the custodians of the project, so such passion is needed for ownership and sustainability of the project once the funding ceases.

He added that losing traditional grains is the same as losing our culture. “Communities should be driving the seed bank projects. This is part of the network we are going to develop in other countries. We need to keep our genetic resources and protect our biodiversity by conserving our tradition. We won’t be losing our traditional agricultural practices only, but we will be also losing our culture s well because our culture is part of what we eat,” said Dr Takoukam who is the FAO representative for eSwatini, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.

In his closing remarks, Chief Nyashanu (Shemwi), the paramount chief of Buhera District, thanked government and its development partners for helping restore self-reliance in Buhera.

“I am glad you have come here to help us. You call it Buhera but the real name is Hera. It’s the land of the Hera clan (waHera). We are proud of our women at this community seed bank project. How they are dedicated to learning new things and working hard to fend for their families, in the process also regenerating our degraded lands and forests,” he said.

Chief Nyashanu (white cap) giving the closing remarks.

Adding, “This region is a dryland but it is now productive through these climate change mitigation measures. We can now grow our pearl millet (mhunga), sorghum (mapfunde), finger millet (zviyo/rapoko), ground nuts (nzungu), cow peas (nyemba) and round nuts (nyimo). However, this year there was a poor yield of pearl millet, but the rest of the crops I mentioned, the yields were good.”

The chief however also implored government to help increase the market prices for their small grains through the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), bemoaning the current prices, which he said are too little for smallholder farmers to gainfully survive from farming alone. GMB purchases small grains like sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet as a strategic national reserve and act as the buyer of last resort.

“We now have many universities in Zimbabwe and hope they do more research on our small grains and value addition to improve the end product value, which will improve market prices and subsequently the prosperity of our people who practice subsistence farming and survive on selling these small grains,” said chief Nyashanu.