Youths and women urged to tap into biodiversity economic opportunities

Youths and women have been urged to take up developmental opportunities presented by the Zimbabwe Biodiversity Economy and contribute towards economic development.

This comes as the government of Zimbabwe launched its first ever Biodiversity Economy Report in September which outlines outcomes and opportunities in the country’s rich biodiversity.

During an African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) organised webinar, it emerged that there were a lot of opportunities in the fisheries, forestry and bio prospecting sectors among others.

Forestry Commission entomologist, Mr Leon Tshuma said youths and women can actually utilize the opportunities to solve economic challenges currently bedeviling the country.

“There are a lot of opportunities in the timber industry as well as in the non-timber plantations. In the non-timber forest, people can make charcoal briquettes which can be a solution to the country’s energy sector,” he said.

He said although it requires a lot of income, the safari sector was also up for grabs in the forestry sector.

Mr Emmanuel Mukusa, a Biotrade specialist and Bindura University of Science Education lecturer, outlined how people can benefit from non-timber forest products like the manufacturing of Mawuyu and Masau juices among others.

Fisheries Expert, Mr Vasco Schmidt said already, a number of women and youths were beneficiaries of projects presented through Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in line food security.

“FAO has provided seed money, technical and mentorship support to five youth’s groups to start their own businesses. It has been supporting fisheries management in Lake Kariba and it has facilitated and assisted the re-establishment of co-management structures and developed a fisheries management plan,” said Mr Schmidt.

“There are already a number of people who have benefited in fisheries, especially at Lake Kariba. There are still more opportunities that the youths can tap into ranging from fingerling production system, fish production, retail of fish and also subsidiary activities like feed supply and biogas production out of farm waste among others,” he said.

He said plans are to secure a ready market for their fish for there is high risk of post-harvest losses since fish have a short shelf life.

He however raised concern over overfishing associated with the trade.

“Recent research suggests that there is overfishing at Kariba and measures are being put in place for community based management and monitoring. There are also measures for extreme monitoring and surveillance to reduce before it emanates into a disaster,” he said.-chronicle