HarvestPlus fighting food and nutrition insecurity in rural Zim

Lazarus Sauti

 

SOCIAL protection services, insurance, food aid, and cash-based transfers can go a long way in assisting Africans who are food insecure in the region, a recent Southern African Development Community (SADC) report has said.

 

According to the 2020 Synthesis Report on the State of Food and Nutrition Security and Vulnerability in Southern Africa, about 33.6 million people living in rural areas and 11.1 million in urban areas across southern Africa is food insecure.

 

The report added that 17 percent of the region’s rural population is struggling to access food, either due to limited purchasing power induced by price hikes or challenges in availability of foods.

 

Zimbabwe has not been spared from the crisis.

 

The World Food Programme (WFP) recently estimated that by year-end, the number of food insecure citizens will have surged by almost 50 percent to about 8.6 million.

 

“Many Zimbabwean families are bearing the brunt of severe hunger and their predicament will worsen before it gets better,” said Lola Castro, WFP’s Regional Director for Southern Africa.

 

There is, therefore, a need for a harmonised reaction to acute food shortages in Zimbabwe, especially in rural areas.

 

According to the SADC report, this synchronised response should incorporate the provision of insurance policies and social protection programmes.

 

“Social protection is the set of public and private policies and programmes aimed at preventing, reducing, and eliminating economic and social vulnerability to poverty and deprivation,” noted 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MISC) report.

 

HarvestPlus in Zimbabwe is providing social transfer or external economic support or ‘free economic help’ to vulnerable families in Chiweshe, Zvimba and Makoni Districts in Zimbabwe.

 

Through a program code-named Livelihood and Food Security Program (LFSP), funded with UK aid from the UK government and managed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), HarvestPlus in Zimbabwe – a strategic technical partner to the LFSP on biofortification – is providing biofortified food support for socio-economically vulnerable families in the country.

 

The organisation – which works with over 40 partners from government, business, civil society, academia, and research institutes – is giving orange-fleshed sweet potatoes to food and nutrition insecure families.

 

It is also working with these families to test orange-sweet potato varieties to tackle food and nutrition security in the smallholder communities.

 

Program beneficiary, Barbra Chinyemba, a farmer from Ward 11, Chinyemba Village in Mashonaland Province said the orange-fleshed sweet potato is tasty and rich in Vitamin A.

 

“The sweet potato is also easy to grow, even when there is little water available,” she added.

 

Another beneficiary, Hilda Chitsike Ganya, who is also a village health worker, from Dzvairo village in Makoni District said the orange-fleshed sweet potato has a potential to enhance food and nutrition security in rural Zimbabwe.

 

“The orange-fleshed sweet potato improves nutrition by promoting vitamin A,” she said. “According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 36 percent of Zimbabwean children under 5 are estimated to be vitamin A deficient.

 

“This deficiency lowers immunity, impairs vision, and may lead to blindness and even death.”

 

HarvestPlus Seed Systems Specialist, Lawrence Mjere said his organisation is working with the Agronomy Institute as partners, Agritex as implementers, Department for International Development (DFID) as funders, and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) as programme managers to test OFSP varieties for agronomic performance at Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) and as directly with farmers in Chiweshe, Zvimba and Makoni Districts.

 

“Our objective is to understand farmers’ preferences of the orange-fleshed sweet potato varieties – Alisha, Delvia, Sumia, Namanga, Victoria and Irene – which we would like to use to address both food and nutrition security in the country,” he said.

 

Mjere further said the orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are high in beta-carotene, which supplies essential vitamin A, and helps prevent malnutrition in poor farmers.

 

“The varieties are expected to produce high yields in regions where production is hampered by low moisture and high temperatures,” he added.

 

Mjere also said his organisation supports the Department of Research and Specialist Services to breed, test, and release varieties of vitamin A maize and iron beans developed through its partnership with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) for maize and beans, respectively.

 

For Crop Research Coordinator at CUT, Nilton Mashavakure, the six varieties of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes being tested are easy to integrate into family diets because they are tasty and can be used in many ways, including baking and purees.

 

“There is also potential for industrial processing and production,” he said, adding that the value chain is rife with opportunity.

 

Principal Agronomist (Agritex) Root and Tubers Extension Specialist, Sibongile Mangena Chikoore commended HarvestPlus for providing external economic support to vulnerable families in remote parts of Zimbabwe.

 

“By providing vulnerable farmers with orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, HarvestPlus is supporting organisations such as the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) in providing a safety net to vulnerable households in rural Zimbabwe,” she said.

 

Speaking at a virtual launch of the Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) and NSSA Insurance and Pensions Journalists Mentorship 2020 Programme, NSSA Acting General Manager, Arthur Manase said his organisation is offering a safety net to vulnerable families not to fall into abject poverty.

 

“We are an essential national institution that guarantees social protection of Zimbabweans,” he said, adding that NSSA is establishing offices in rural areas to bring services closer to beneficiaries. Our goal is to save Zimbabweans from the jaws of poverty.

 

IPEC Commissioner, Grace Muradzikwa also said insurance and social protection services are important if fighting poverty, which is Goal 1 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

 

“Through social protection, insurance cannot only help smallholder farmers to fight food and nutrition insecurities; it also protects vulnerable households from abject poverty,” she said.

 

Muradzikwa added that her organisation recently approved Prescribed Asset status towards agriculture financing worth Z$250m this year to improve food production and fight food and nutrition insecurity.