On the 24th October invited guests from Government, civil society, farmers’ organisations, the private sector and international agencies will gather for a double celebration. They will be celebrating the launch of the Phiri Award for Farm and Food Innovators and they will celebrate the first winners of the Award.
Life is tough in the rural areas of Zimbabwe, often very tough. It’s the same across Africa. But sometimes we fall into the trap of stereotyped images of people waiting to be ‘developed’. It’s a much more complex picture than these simplified images. Rural areas are very dynamic. All sorts of things are going on. People are getting on with their lives and there are those experimenting and trying out practices, responding to what life throws at them, be it a cyclone, a drought, a piece of land covered in rocks or even mole rats eating their crops.
There is a tendency in today’s world to think that solutions will always come from experts and new technologies and we often underestimate the degree of innovation that is going on. In order to start giving recognition to this innovation, a group of Zimbabweans have set up the Phiri Award for Farm and Food Innovators.
The initiators of the Phiri Award Trust, would like to see innovators in the farming and food world being given much more prominence. They draw inspiration from Zephaniah Phiri, after whom the Award is named. He is a fine example of someone who responded to his difficult situation in a creative and meaningful way. And he has gone on to have enormous impact on the thousands who have visited his small farm in Zvishavane or who have met him elsewhere. See previous blog...
Inspiration is also drawn from an approach to farming and food that puts emphasis on food in a much broader way than the narrow perspective of food security. This is an approach that stresses productivity while also paying attention to ecosystem processes, soil health, nutrition, sustainability, local knowledge development amongst farmers and others in the food chain, and the rights of farmers and consumers. Many call this food sovereignty. It’s an approach that recognizes and works with the complexity of ecological, social and economic systems. The more conventional approaches today over-emphasize technological solutions and don’t take into account all the true costs.
As well as celebrating the launch of the Phiri Award for Farm and Food Innovators on October 24th, prizes will be given to the inaugural winners of the award from a shortlist of five. Below is a taste of those who have been shortlisted, in no particular order.
Cyclone Eline devastated William Gezana’s farm in Chimanimani in 2000. Instead of feeling sorry for himself he immediately set about reclaiming his land. With various techniques he has rehabilitated his farm and the perennial stream destroyed by Cyclone Eline. He now works with others around him on watershed management.
Wilson Sithole’s father allocated him 2 hectares of land in the Rusitu valley in the 1980s. The only problem was that it was an unproductive piece of land covered in rock boulders. Undaunted and with a clear plan in mind he has over the last 20 years turned this land into a productive banana, citrus and pineapple farm in which all water is harvested by ditches combined with rock bunds on contour. He is a fine example of turning a problem into the solution.
Faiseni Pedzi learned a little about water-harvesting and water management during a short stint working on a lowveld sugar estate from 1968 to 1976. He used and added to this knowledge through trial and error and has developed an intricate system to distribute water on his small farm in the dry district of Chivi, using ‘valves’ and canals. It is a system that enables him to direct water to any desired point on his farm. This allows him to grow fish and crops throughout the year.
Bouwas Mawara, inspired by the liberation struggle to think in new ways, put in a system of one to three metre deep dead level contours, which also incorporate mini-dams. As a result he harvests huge amounts of water in Mazvihwa, a very dry part of the country. His extensive irrigation system, involving clay pipes, can draw excessive water from the fields in the rainy season to use for irrigation in the dry season. He also uses the water to grow crops throughout the year and to grow fish. Furthermore, he has set up an ‘innovators’ platform’ to sharpen, share and disseminate innovations amongst farmers in the area.
Finally, Paguel Takura lost most of the sweet potatoes and bananas that he planted on his newly allocated farm in 2008 to the African mole rat. Through experimentation with both bait and trap, he has developed a highly effective way of catching mole rats on his farm in Chikukwa, near the border with Mozambique. In 2011, for example, he captured 39 mole rats.
The stories of all five of these farmer innovators, which the Phiri Award has documented, show how they have had to overcome struggles to get to where they are now. All of them have had to face the ridicule of their communities, with some being told they are mad and others that they smoke marijuana.
A final note:
A serious shortcoming in this the first year of the award is that the five shortlisted farmers come from only three provinces in Zimbabwe and all are men. The Phiri Award is determined that this award will extend its reach to all corners of the country and pay much more attention to finding women innovators across the food value chain. We look forward to assistance in identifying these innovators, who deserve greater recognition. This has to be a joint effort and we appeal to Zimbabweans to work with us in this task.
Contact email: phiriaward@gmail.com for more information.
