RURAL communities are bearing the brunt of hunger despite concerted efforts to extend equitable access to food to marginalised areas in the aftermath of the El Nino weather phenomenon, NewsDay has learnt.
This was revealed by Community Technology Development Organisation director Andrew Mushita during the right to food inception meeting held in Harare yesterday.
The meeting launched the strengthening of rural governance for the Right to Adequate Food (RTF) project which is part of efforts to ensure equitable access to food in sub-Saharan countries particularly Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is battling the impact of the El Nino-induced drought which saw almost seven million people facing acute food shortages across the country.
Mushita said the project, covering Mutoko and Gokwe South for a period of three years, which was launched on October 1 last year, was expected to end in March, 2028.
“When we look at the rural populace, food insecurity has been increasing and the right remains unfulfilled but there are a number of factors which have been contributing to this scenario.
“Chief among them being climate change, which has had a negative impact on the rural communities and the productivity levels of our small-holder farmers including access to good quality seeds, access to requisite inputs like fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and the cost of some of these inputs are beyond the reach of our smallholder farmers,” he said.
Mushita said there was an urgent need for Zimbabwe to have a paradigm shift which included agro-ecological practices that emphasised utilisation of local resources, which were readily available such as animal manure thereby increasing soil fertility.
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“There are a number of aspects we need to provide to smallholder farmers, including capacity building as well as creating awareness.
“We need also to provide mechanisation to small-holder farmers, because now with drought, most of the cattle are dying,” he said.
Mushita said there was also a need to look into how Zimbabwe could mechanise small-holder farmers to adequately utilise the current rains.
“If we provide small-holder farmers with tractors, planters and so forth, which are really in sync with the kind of land holdings which the small-holder farmers have, it would be helpful,” he said.
The project, according to Mushita, was aimed at improving the rural governance of the right to food through awareness raising and working with governments to improve service delivery.
He said the project would also be lobbying and advocating for fulfilment of section 77 of the Constitution which states that everyone has the right to safe, clean and affordable water and sufficient food.
Welt Hunger Hilfe country director Matthias Spaeth said although the overall objective was food and nutrition security for all, this could only be achieved through the transformation of the whole food system.
“The right to food campaign is very important in order to create awareness among all the stakeholders and also among the so-called beneficiaries,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the Lands and Agriculture secretary Obert Jiri, business development, markets and trade chief director Clemence Bwenje said the government, in partnership with development partners, was committed to ensuring food security for all its citizens.
