Online Reporter
Tendai Rupapa
Senior Reporter
EMPOWERMENT champion First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa has initiated countless life-transforming initiatives to benefit vulnerable members of society mainly womenfolk countrywide to boost productivity, end poverty and ensure they generate income to sustain their livelihoods.
The First Lady, who is the Agric4She patron, also uses the initiatives to curb domestic violence, drug and substance abuse as well as prostitution, among many other social ills.
Recently, in Honde Valley, Manicaland Province Amai Mnangagwa launched the Banana4She, Pfumvudza4She, Fisheries4She, Poultry4She and Horticulture4She programmes to boost the nation’s food security in the aftermath of the El Nino-induced drought which affected crops last season.
All the projects are flourishing with prospects of realising high returns and food security.
The projects also bode well for unity since beneficiaries are working in groups as instructed by the First Lady ensuring no place and no one is left behind.
In Hauna, Honde Valley, where she launched the five farming programmes, there is a massive platform for skills and knowledge transfer.
Those who were trained by extension officers on how to undertake the projects are also training their peers in a ‘train the trainer programme’, hence no woman is left behind.
The women are also practising the pass-on arrangement.
The projects also highlight the First Lady’s undying love to transform the lives of ordinary people as well as a non-selective approach as she works with anyone anywhere to realise their goals.
From Manicaland via Kanyemba to Plumtree, her empowerment footprints are there for all to see.
Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Advocate Misheck Mugadza paid tribute to the impact of the First Lady’s empowerment programmes.
“Just like other provinces across Zimbabwe, Manicaland Province has immensely benefited from various empowerment programmes initiated and driven by the mother of the nation, Her Excellency, the First Lady of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Dr A Mnangagwa. Among others, the empowerment programmes which primarily targeted the vulnerable in our society including elderly women, widows, orphans, and those with disabilities among others, the empowerment programmes have benefited more than 5000 households in 2024 alone.
“Under the flagship Agric4SHE initiative, a wide range of support schemes which were recently rolled out in Manicaland include Pfumvudza4SHE initiative where thousands of elderly women were generously provided with agricultural inputs which enabled them to establish 3 000 maize plots, particularly in Honde Valley of Mutasa district,” he said.
Courtesy of extension support from experts, Adv Mugadza said the beneficiaries have produced a very healthy maize crop that is predominantly at the vegetative phase.
“The beneficiary households are certainly guaranteed bumper harvests and household food security post the 2025 summer season harvest. The Fisheries4She initiative was received by beneficiary farmers given that Manicaland is one of the fastest-growing aquaculture farming enterprises in the country due to its abundant water resources. More than 10 000 fish fingerlings were recently distributed to already trained women farmers resulting in a project success rate of more than 90 percent,” he said.
The fish, Adv Mugadza said, is now at the juvenile stage and these will tremendously improve nutrition status at the household level whilst also generating income for the previously marginalised women beneficiaries.
The Horticulture4SHE, he said, had also been widely welcomed.
“Manicaland is a household player in the horticulture agriculture sub-sector due to its enabling climatic conditions. The introduction of the Horticulture4SHE initiative by Her Excellency, the First Lady, was, therefore, received with unparalleled enthusiasm by beneficiary communities. Hundreds of households were given vegetable combo packs and banana suckers for planting in their gardens and fields.
“It is imperative to highlight that the resultant banana plots are thriving and this will see thousands more farmers also receiving planting material under a prudently managed pass-on arrangement,” Adv Mugadza said.
He said more women also benefited from the Poultry4SHE programme.
“The Poultry4SHE initiative was enthusiastically received by more than 1000 women who have since creatively established several groups for the purpose of facilitating a pass-on mechanism. It is, therefore, anticipated that the initiative will see thousands of households ultimately benefiting from it through improved motivation, security and enhanced income from the sale of chickens within their communities,” the minister said.
Adv Mugadza gave the First Lady plaudits for implementing the Widows Empowerment scheme in his province.
“The Manicaland Widows empowerment initiative is one of the most successful schemes introduced by Her Excellency, the First Lady. The beneficiary widows have since established thriving grocery shops at Murambinda growth point in Buhera.
“Established in 2024, the business has since grown by more than 20 percent and has significantly helped in stabilising maize meal prices at the growth point given the shop’s commendable practice of selling the product at highly reasonable prices. Indeed, the initiatives by Her Excellency, the First Lady, have evidently registered a transformative impact in the lives of vulnerable members of the Manicaland community across the province,” he said.
It is anticipated that the First Lady’s empowerment initiatives will have a multiplier effect in the province, thereby significantly contributing towards the achievement of Vision 2030.
“On behalf of the people of Manicaland Province and indeed on my own behalf, let me express our collective appreciation to Her Excellency, the First Lady of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Dr A Mnangagwa for all these life-changing empowerment initiatives whose effect is already being felt across the province,” he said.
