Zimbabwe: More Women Becoming Farmers

Interest in agriculture as a business venture among women has increased over the years with more inquiring on how to access land under the Land Reform Programme.

Ms Phides Mazhawidza is the president of the Women Farmers' Association (WFA). She has noticed that demand for land and interest in agriculture as a business venture among women has increased over the years with more inquiring on how to access land under the Land Reform Programme, The WFA has been referring such inquiries to the relevant Government departments in the provinces and districts. "The number of women asking about the land has increased tremendously over the years. This growing interest is not only from older women but also the young who have seen the benefits of the Land Reform Programme. "Our main focus is on helping female farmers to effectively use and manage land, access inputs and mobilise resources as well as capacity building. "As we are not directly involved in land allocation, we help prospective women farmers to get information from the Ministry of National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, which is mandated with land redistribution," she said. The WFA was failing to meet demand for access to inputs and resources from female farmers and was appealing to Government to increase funding to women in the sector. "The organisation has been overwhelmed by demand for inputs such as maize seed and fertilizer. As a result, we are recommending female farmers to venture into production of small grains to reduce demand for maize and other large grain crops. "While inputs and resource mobilisation has seen greater demand, it has been difficult to lure women into capacity building programmes as they do not see the immediate benefits of non-agriculture management training. As a result, we have intensified capacity building to improve production on the farms," she said. The WFA was formed as a non-profit organization with the specific objective of catering for the interests of female farmers, facilitate access to agriculture-related resources and policy advocacy. The WFA membership comes from commercial and non-commercial farmers and it seeks to bring about equitable access to land and agricultural resources in addition to encouraging its members to use land productively.