First Lady invites Japanese experts for groundbreaking solar energy project
. . . potable water to be harvested from atmosphere, rice production to start
JAPANESE experts are bringing to Zimbabwe, advanced solar-powered technology that harvests moisture from the atmosphere to produce potable water as the country reaps benefits from the First Lady’s foreign engagements.
Amai Mnangagwa was recently invited to Japan for the inaugural Asia Pacific Africa Women’s Economic Exchange Summit.
During the summit, she committed herself to ensuring sustainable food production and provision of clean water to children for them to survive and grow up healthy.
The secretariat of the summit was thrilled by Dr Mnangagwa’s passion and commitment to work towards a better future for children and generations to come.
Mrs Fukuyo Nakamori, the Chairperson of the summit and a politician who once served in the House of Representatives as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, expressed willingness to work with Dr Mnangagwa who then invited her to Zimbabwe.
Mrs Nakamori accepted the invitation and yesterday she led a team to Gosha Primary School in Mashonaland East province where they conducted a feasibility study to assess the suitability of the programme.
This comes as plans to produce largescale Nerica rice in Zimbabwe are at an advanced stage after the Japanese rice experts also visited Zimbabwe at the invitation of Amai Mnangagwa, the Agric4She patron.
Nerica (new rice for Africa) has been developed through crossing African rice species - resistant to disease and drought - and Asian rice species-high yield potential, with the assistance from Japan.
Mrs Nakamori gave a brief on the new water technology and on Nerica rice which she said was developed specifically for Africa.
“The First Lady of Zimbabwe graciously participated in the summit as the mother of the nation. She travelled more than 13 000km away from Japan. This Nerica rice was specifically developed for Africa and it is a remarkable technology that thrives with just a ‘glass of water’.
“Nerica rice technology is one of the technologies that I am proud of and as I said it only needs one ‘glass of water’ annually to grow in this continent. The First Lady expressed interest to produce Nerica rice in Zimbabwe,” she said.
She said rice production would add to the country’s food security.
The new technology to produce water does not require the drilling of the ground.
“You do not need to drill the ground. What you can do is that you get the air, from the air there is moisture so you get that moisture and purify it to get drinking water. We condense the air and we take out moisture from the air and we do not need to add any chemicals and we get safe water for drinking. In that device, we add a small solar plant so that we do not use electricity.
“We are here to learn how much water you need in the school and we will work together to end water problems,” she said.
Mrs Nakamori expressed the desire to have an inter-school exchange programme between Japan and Zimbabwe and said her country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was working towards this.
Amai Mnangagwa thanked the Japanese
delegation for coming to Zimbabwe.
She said as patron of Angel of Hope Foundation, she was committed to improving access to clean water for rural communities.
“Today, I am joined by Mrs Nakamori, the chairperson of the Asia Pacific Africa Economic Exchange Summit and former member of the Japanese parliament national diet.
“I attended the first Asia, Pacific Africa and Women’s Economic Exchange Summit in Tokyo, Japan, in November 2022 where I exchanged views and ideas with other First Ladies of Africa and Japanese officials on how to empower the marginalised and vulnerable communities, especially women and children.
“This is where we saw that our countries in Africa need to work with countries that have advanced technology. I invited them here to come and teach us to grow Nerica rice and bring the technology of water that is found in the atmosphere.
“My friends were cooperative and Dr Tsuboi came in March after I invited him and made him work with the Ministry of Agriculture and they went about assessing areas that are suitable to produce the Nerica rice. This is rice that we can all cultivate at our homesteads for food security. You heard Mrs Nakamori saying just a cup of water is sufficient to grow the rice,” she said.
Dr Mnangagwa paid tribute to cordial relations between Zimbabwe and Japan dating back to the days of the liberation struggle.
“Ladies and gentlemen, at the outset let me acknowledge the cordial relations that exist between the Republic of Zimbabwe and Japan since our independence in 1980. Over the years, Japan has been a key development partner with Zimbabwe and the former has been extending critical assistance to the country in various sectors including health, environment, agriculture, mining, ICT, human resources development and finance among others.
“It is worth mentioning that Japan assisted Zimbabwe in the development and launching of the successful deployment of the satellite into orbit in December 2022.
“The satellite is now assisting Zimbabwe on meteorological services through improved weather forecasting and has enhanced the agriculture landscape and as we prepare for the forthcoming farming season this essential support will go a long way in helping us to better plan and anticipate rainfall patterns in an effort to improve and maximise the agriculture yield harvest. In Zimbabwe many villages face various challenges including the access to clean water and l am aware that some households walk for kilometres to find clean water.”
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