Zimbabwean women leverage traditional knowledge to sustain livelihoods

HARARE — Early in the morning in Domboshava, a village near Harare, two women were gathering herbs in a lush green forest.

A branch at a time, the women carefully pruned the shrubs, making sure they leave the plants in good health.

Locally known as Zumbani, or Lippia Javanica by its botanical name, the plant is believed to possess medicinal value, and has become widely sought after the COVID-19 pandemic, as it is believed to be helpful in treating flulike symptoms.

A stone’s throw away, by a rocky mountain edge, two women could be seen plucking flowery plants from the ground.

As clouds gathered from a distance, they continued picking the herbs before dashing back home with their treasured collections.

At their workstation, two elderly women sorted dried plant roots from traditional handmade weaved baskets. Another woman effortlessly pounded some baobab fruit seeds using traditional handcrafted wooden mortar and pestle.

The women are members of the Women’s Farming Syndicate, an organization that aims to eradicate poverty among rural women through sustainable agribusiness and the use of traditional knowledge systems.

Their wide range of products include traditional herbs, tea, spices, traditional handicrafts and various products made from wild plants and fruits.

The products are natural with no artificial additives and are handmade by rural women.

Tsitsi Machingauta, founder and national coordinator of WFS, says the goal of the organization is to create value by harnessing resources widely available in the community.

“As the Woman’s Farming Syndicate we are using what is readily available within our environments to create products that are marketable both locally and internationally to actually generate sustainable livelihoods for ourselves,” Machingauta says.

Inspired by her grandmother, who had vast knowledge of plants, Machingauta says the idea to commercialize traditional knowledge systems came about out of a need to find sustainable income.

While indigenous knowledge systems in treating diseases remain one of the most valuable intellectual resources owned by rural communities in Zimbabwe, Machingauta says it has been the least mobilized resource for sustainable development.

“So I realized that if we then leverage on these traditional knowledge systems to have sustainable livelihoods for women, it means that women can actually have decent lives where they are, with what they have within their communities, at their fingertips,” Machingauta says.

“Through this initiative, the women’s farming syndicate has enabled women to have decent livelihoods and to have a living wage through the traditional knowledge systems, and through being able to commercialize it,” she adds.

Local people have a long history of plant usage for medicinal purposes.

In most cases, practitioners, who are usually senior citizens, provide services based on traditional medicinal knowledge of local plants free of charge, or for a small fee.

Despite the increasing acceptance of traditional medicine, the rich indigenous knowledge is not adequately documented and is mostly passed on from generation to generation.

While the Zimbabwean government formally recognizes traditional medicine, traditional healers have remained largely marginalized in most medical circles.

Machingauta says indigenous knowledge systems are a valuable national resource. Therefore, ensuring their protection should be a national priority.

She says China offers valuable lessons on how traditional knowledge systems can be used in the modern era, adding that the Asian country has managed to preserve traditional knowledge for centuries.

Machingauta says the best way to preserve the natural environment is to ensure that ordinary people reap economic benefits from their immediate surroundings.

She says since the community started to financially benefit from her initiative, people have started to cherish their natural environment.

And this also encouraged people in local communities to start to appreciate the value of forests, traditional fruits, and vegetables, because they are now generating an income for the community, Machingauta says.

“We are key custodians of the environment, and this really shows that we are key players in decisionmaking,” she says.

Machingauta says given the benefits of traditional knowledge systems, it is imperative that they are promoted for wider use.