First Lady launches two food security schemes in Mash East
THE quest to promote good nutrition, foster good health and guarantee food security saw First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa launch the Pfumvudza4She and Command4She programmes in Mashonaland East at a colourful ceremony attended by thousands of women drawn from the province’s districts.
During the combined launch, the women showcased produce they harvested under Agric4She last year like traditional grains, different types of maize, roundnuts, groundnuts, beans, cowpeas and a variety of vegetables.
The women also displayed an array of traditional herbs and explained their medicinal benefits.
The herbs included pounded muchenya roots, which the women said help cure headaches and flu; and muremberembe barks, which are dried and immersed in water to address ovarian challenges and improve reproductive health.
Mubvamaropa barks, the women said, are ground and put into porridge or water to supplement blood, cure backache and address menstrual cycle challenges.
Also on display was black hybrid maize, which the exhibitors said when mixed with red maize, munhengeni roots and boiled together, the concoction cures bilharzia.
Red maize, they said, is a therapy for nose bleeding.
The women are also making juices, tea and jam from rosella. Rosella juice, the First Lady was told, helps those with heart problems, makes bones and teeth strong and also improves the immune system.
One lady displayed scouring powder made from dried egg shells, showing that instead of throwing shells away, one can dry them, pound them and take the powder.
At the event, the First Lady also held an interactive session to tackle issues affecting the community like drug abuse and domestic violence.
Song and dance illuminated the event, which also included the Command4She, under which the mother of the nation is working with the Women’s Bank and the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to provide women with all farming requirements.
Herself an avid farmer, the First Lady started yesterday’s programme in Jembere village, where she joined other women in preparing Pfumvudza plots by digging holes, mulching, applying fertiliser and covering the holes.
The First Lady led in the planting of 25 fruit trees at host farmer Mrs Eunice Tora Chasima’s homestead.
The trees will yield avocados, oranges, nartjies, Eureka lemons and mangoes.
In her address, Dr Mnangagwa thanked the province for voting for President Mnangagwa in the August 23-24 harmonised elections, paving the way for his second five-year term.
“Let me welcome you today, ladies, by saying we are back to our old story about farming. Last year, we planted, weeded and harvested together. I have come back so that we exceed what we did last year. We want to farm so that, as mothers, we assist those in need. There are some works that we should never stop doing as women because we may tire but farming never ends.