Contributing Positively To Food Systems (Smallholder Irrigation Revitalisation Programme)

A Tribute to Rural Women- Our Development Champions A tribute to the rural women for your strength, caring, creativity, dedication   and resilience. Despite the hardship, the unequal distribution you soldier on with   a smile. We may never see your face or know your name but   we do see your work. You (Rural women) play a catalytic role towards achievement of transformational economics by engaging in agriculture. You are   custodians of socio-economic, cultural and environmental sustainability. You are the farmers, producers, caregivers, change-makers, investors, community & family managers, , problem solvers, businesswomen, educators. and leaders. You are the custodians of our future and backbone of our nations We may not hear about you in the news. Or   see your pictures in the magazines. Or read your names in the headlines.   But   Daily you contribute to   food and nutrition security, Daily you contribute to eradicating r...

Celebrating Unsung Heroes- Celebrating International Rural Women 15 October  Mai Angela a mother of 5 is one of the Unsung Heroes. Mai Angela's  day starts at 5am every morning, she quickly does her households chores and starts preparing the morning meal with the baby on her back.  She prepares the children for school.  When done she has to go to the fields, collect firewood, carry water, tend for the livestock , go to the  garden and prepare the afternoon and evening meals.   All of this is unpaid and unrecorded work.  In Zimbabwe, 70% of women are estimated to work in agriculture which is characterised by low wages [1]  , and only 20% are landowners [2] . Despite the role they play, a griculture is structured in such a way that women are found at the lower end of the spectrum as cheap/unpaid household labour, working 16 to 18 hours a day, spending at least 49 percent of their time on agricultural activities, and about 25 percent on domest...

  SIRP Diaries – Rupangwana Transition Story   Walter Makotore It is an early August morning, the weather is generally pleasant and you can feel the light breeze of mild easterly winds. You can count on Chiredzi to be sunny and warm almost throughout the year. We are on a monitoring visit to Rupangwana Irrigation Scheme one of the schemes under rehabilitation. Rupangwana Irrigation Schemes is located in Chiredzi ward 4, Natural Region 5 and receives average annual rainfall of 400mm and experiences frequent droughts. The livelihoods are mostly sustained on crop and livestock enterprise, cross border activity, informal trading and remittances. As we transact the scheme there is a marked improvement in the cropping compared to what we saw last November (2020). The standing crops are in good condition. We ask Mr Manganda (vice chair of the IMC) as he works on his s...