Government instructs agriculture and development initiatives to mainstream gender parity issues into programming

WOMEN play a crucial role in the country’s agriculture, food systems and rural transformation drives, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Permanent Secretary Professor Obert Jiri has said.

To that end, the ministry has guided all agricultural, food systems and rural development initiatives by the Government, local authorities, development partners, donors, private sector players, and other stakeholders to mainstream gender parity issues into their programming, he said.

Prof Jiri was speaking in Harare today during a UNOPS /UN Dialogue session to unpack the context, framing, highlighting challenges, and mapping the way forward to close the gender gap and empower women in the food industry.

The focus of the dialogue was mainly on ‘Supporting Women Food producers, Ensuring Gender Equality in the National Food System’ and was held under the theme: “Rural Women Cultivating Good Food for All”

Said Prof Jiri: “The rural sector supports over 65 percent of Zimbabwe’s population.

“The majority of this number are women, women in farming, from a cropping, livestock, horticulture, agro-industry perspective and even more specifically – an agro-food processing perspective. Women play a major role in the country’s agriculture, food systems, and rural transformation drives. The ministry’s policy and regulatory frameworks are deliberately designed to reap economic development dividends from this demography.”

He stressed the importance of adopting Pfumvudza/Intwasa as a concept of conservation agriculture and climate-smart Agriculture.

“Pfumvudza/Intwasa is a conservation agriculture that is designed to meet food security for an average household of six members over one year. All the conservation agriculture principles are applied on time, at standard, and without wastage.

“ The programme is inclusive, accommodating men, women, youths and people living with disabilities in its support of livelihoods through a Presidential Input Scheme that is tailored to entrench a culture of sustainability through conservation agriculture at the household level.”

The Government adopted Intwasa/Pfumvudza to address the problem of low production due to poor rains.

The concept promotes climate-proof agriculture by adopting conservation farming techniques and it involves the utilisation of small pieces of land and application of the correct agronomic practices for higher returns.-chronicle