Online Reporter
Tendai Rupapa in HURUNGWE
AGRIC4SHE patron First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa yesterday unveiled an innovative programme called Poultry4 Vanambuya Empowerment Scheme, handing over 5 500 free range chickens that will benefit hundreds of elderly women from all constituencies of Hurungwe as she strives to ensure healthy living and access to capital for vulnerable communities.
The high breed free range (road runners) which include boschveld, sussex and koekoeks were from the First Lady’s personal fowl-runs and hatcheries.
The mother of the nation distributed the road runners that are in three stages of maturity from two-week-old chicks, four-and-a-half weeks old, and point of lay.
The road runners have a high egg production efficiency.
She also handed over fertilisers to support the elderly in the cultivation of traditional grains, which have high nutritional value and medicinal properties and are also resistant to adverse weather conditions as well as diseases.
In addition, Amai Mnangagwa donated tonnes of rice to all communities as Christmas gifts.
The First Lady enjoined beneficiaries to work hard for the success of the project.
In an interactive session with the beneficiaries, she warned against laziness, domestic violence, early child marriages, cutting down of trees as well as drug and substance abuse.
“The rains will be upon us very soon. Therefore, we need to be prepared. Let us conserve the environment and protect our trees and forests since we derive existence from them. They provide us with the oxygen that we breathe as well as medicine. If we look after them, they in turn look after us. Burning grass and cutting down trees contribute to climate change which induces extreme temperatures. If we do not cut down trees, even violent storms will hit us with less aggravation. We must keep our environment clean,” she said.
Herself a patron of the environment, the First Lady said trees were essential windbreakers.
“Let us plant trees in our communities because if we cut trees and replant them, it will take a long time for them to grow. Today I have brought a programme inobatsira vana mbuya. Ini ndakakura ndiri munhu anoda kubatsira naizvozvo changes in life do not make one change her manners. A person is defined by her manners, chinonzi munhu, hunhu. First Ladies are mostly expected to stay at home, but I grew up working because I was the eldest in a child-headed family. That is why you see me striving to meet the people daily, helping them out because it is something inborn. Yesterday I was in Manicaland, today I am in Hurungwe district and it is my wish to assist everyone including the elderly.
“Today I have extended the Agric4She projects with a new programme enabling women to use their hands. Women are crying out that their spouses do not want to work and often take their money, they would have earned through projects. Women are crying out that they are being emotionally tormented by their drunk husbands. We reject gender-based violence, so use my national gender based violence toll-free line 575 to report and get help.
“I have brought this poultry project with chickens from my personal fowl-run. This is not a new project because there has always been the Presidential Poultry Scheme, but these chickens have come from me as a mother, and they have a high egg production efficiency. This is where I ask you, vanambuya, to stop having itchy feet and stay at home rearing your chickens. Taramba vanoswera vachitenderera kumaraini huku dzichisara dzisina mutarisi. You must then train your grandchildren to be in this project as you also sell the chickens and eggs with them so that they remain gainfully engaged and stay away from drugs. Vanasekuru, please assist your spouses to rear these chickens since the programme is beneficial to the whole family,” she said.
Dr Mnangagwa highlighted the projects she launched in Manicaland under Agric4She recently.
“In Manicaland, I recently launched five projects under Agric4she, including Fisheries4she and banana farming. Let us work hard and eat what we produce. The President said we are all Sadc chairmen, but can a chairman go about begging for maize meal and salt? No, a chairman must gird his loins and work. Vanamai, if you start borrowing sugar from baba vepa next door, how will you pay back? This is where we start hearing promiscuity issues.
“If I bring forth projects, I do so to ensure people get something to do. As a mother, I beg you to live harmoniously in the communities without quarrels. To my sons out there, please stay away from drugs and stop wearing five trousers at once. To the girl child, I urge you to dress decently and not walk in the nude. Nowadays, girls are being proposed love to on social media, and tomorrow, they will be in bed with that social media suitor. Vanangu musadaro, value your education,” she said.
The First Lady urged parents to be firm.
“As parents, let us give our children rules and guidelines. We grew up being beaten, but not fatally therefore let’s discipline our children because they are hiding under rights. What rights? Is it a right to come back home pregnant when you are still in school?” she said to applause.
Agric4she national coordinator, Mr Nikros Kajengo, praised the First Lady for her vision, which has transformed the lives of thousands of people countrywide.
“I wish to thank the First Lady for her vision because this programme is not coming from the Government, but it is coming from her own coffers, her own projects and remittances she is personally undertaking. This programme focuses on the elderly as she leaves no one and no place behind.
She brought 12,5 tonnes of fertilisers for elderly women, 300 chickens at point of lay stage as well as 2 200 chickens at five months. She also brought 3 000 2-week old chickens.
We thank the First Lady for her vision. The hybrid chickens adapt to any weather conditions,” he said.
Mr Passmore Nyamadzawo, a provincial livestock specialist for Mashonaland West Province, showered praises to the First Lady for the gesture.
“We thank our First Lady for the chicken breeds that she has brought because these types of chickens grow well with high egg production efficiency and good meat quality. We hope these beneficiaries will keep them well and create a hub for these chickens. These breeds were rare in our province, and our experts will help monitor them and assist the beneficiaries so that we help Amai to fulfil her vision,” he said.
Gogo Mary Paradza was at a loss for words.
“I am thankful to the First Lady for what she has done, and we are extremely grateful because we are widows who lost their spouses a long time ago. She has remembered us again and this time with chickens, which we are going to breed and sell to get money for the grinding mill and fees for our grandchildren as well as relish,” she said.
Similar sentiments were echoed Gogo Shupikai Mutoranhanga, who said she had been thrown a lifeline.
“With the introduction of this project, I believe my life will change for the better, and I shall be able to put food on the table for my grandchildren as well as send them to school. I want to take the project seriously and ensure I also train my grandchildren to run the project so that hunger becomes a thing of the past in our household, she said with a broad smile.
Gogo Thenjiwe Dube said, “The introduction of this project in this community shows that the First Lady is God-sent. We did not have breeds similar to those that have been brought here, which have high meat quality and produce many eggs. This means we have a chance to make money from the sale of the chickens and eggs. We wish to invite the First Lady sometime in the future to come and witness the success of her project. All that she is doing shows that she is a loving mother with the interests and welfare of the people at heart,” she said.
Minister of State for Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs and Devolution Hon Marian Chombo thanked the First Lady for her thoughtfulness.
“We are deeply grateful to you for unveiling such a programme. You frequently visit us here in Mashonaland West Province, ushering us the opportunity to set foot on the train of development, and today’s project is a one of its kind,” she said. Empowerment Scheme, which will benefit hundreds of elderly women from all constituencies of Hurungwe as she strives to ensure healthy living and capital access for vulnerable communities.
The high breed free range chickens (road runners) were from the First Lady’s personal fowl-runs and her Angel of Hope Foundation’s projects, embodying her farming prowess handwork.
The mother of the nation distributed the road runners that are in three stages, including 2 week-old chicks, four-and-a-half weeks old, and point of lay.
The road runners have a high egg production efficiency.
She also handed over fertilisers to support the elderly in the cultivation of traditional grains, which boasts of high nutritional value and medicinal properties and are resistant to adverse weather conditions as well as diseases.
In addition, Amai Mnangagwa donated tonnes of rice to all communities as Christmas gifts. The First Lady enjoined the beneficiaries to work hard for the success of the project.
In an interactive session with the recipients, she warned against laziness, domestic violence, early child marriages, cutting down of trees as well as drug and substance abuse.
“The rains will be upon us very soon. Therefore, we need to be prepared. Let us conserve the environment and protect our trees and forests since we derive existence from them. They provide us with the oxygen that we breathe as well as medicine. If we look after them, they in turn look after us. Burning grass and cutting down trees contribute to climate change, which induces extreme temperatures. If we do not cut down trees, even violent storms will hit us with less aggravation. We must keep our environment clean,” she said.
Herself a patron of the environment, the First Lady said trees also act as windbreakers.
“Let us plant trees in our communities because if we cut trees and replant them, it will take a long time for them to grow. Today I have brought a programme inobatsira vana mbuya. Ini ndakakura ndiri munhu anoda kubatsira naizvozvo aging does not make one change her manners. A person is defined by her manners, chinonzi munhu, hunhu. First Ladies are mostly expected to stay at home, but I grew up working because I was the eldest in a child-headed family. That is why you see me striving to meet the people daily, helping them out because it is something in-born. Yesterday I was in Manicaland, today I am in Hurungwe district and it is my wish to assist everyone including the elderly.
“Today I have extended the Agric4She projects with a new programme enabling women to use their hands. Women are crying out that their spouses do not want to work and often take their money, which they would have earned through projects. Women are crying out that they are being emotionally tormented by their drunk husbands. We reject gender-based violence, so use my national gender based violence toll-free line 575 to report and get help.
“I have brought this poultry project with chickens from my personal fowl-run.
“This is a new project, there has always been the Presidential Poultry Scheme, but these chickens have come from me as a mother, and they have a high egg production efficiency. This is where I ask you, vanambuya, to stop having itchy feet and stay at home rearing your chickens. Taramba vanoswera vachitenderera kumaraini huku dzichisara dzisina mutarisi. You must then train your grandchildren to be in this project as you also sell the chickens and eggs with them so that they remain gainfully engaged and stay away from drugs. Vanasekuru, please assist your spouses to rear these chickens since the programme is beneficial to the whole family,” she said.
Dr Mnangagwa highlighted the projects she launched in Manicaland under Agric4She recently.
“In Manicaland, I recently launched five projects under Agric4she, including Fisheries4she and Banana farming. Let us work hard and eat what we produce. The President said we are all Sadc chairmen, but can a chairman go about begging for maize meal and salt? No, a chairman must gird his loins and work. Vanamai, if you start borrowing sugar from baba vepa next-door, how will you pay back? This is where we start hearing promiscuity issues.
“If I bring forth projects, I do so to ensure people get something to do. As a mother, I beg you to live harmoniously in the communities without quarrels. To my sons out there, please stay away from drugs and stop wearing five trousers at once. To the girl child, I urge you to dress decently and not walk in the nude. Nowadays, girls are being proposed to love on social media, and tomorrow, they will be in bed with that social media suitor. Vanangu musadaro, value your education,” she said.
The First Lady urged parents to be firm.
“As parents, let us give our children rules and guidelines. We grew up being beaten, but not fatally therefore let’s discipline our children because they are hiding under rights. What rights? Is it a right to come back home pregnant when you are still in school?” she said to applause.
Agric4she national coordinator, Mr Nikros Kajengo, praised the First Lady for her vision, which has transformed the lives of thousands of people countrywide.
“I wish to thank the First Lady for her vision because this programme is not coming from the Government, but it is coming from her own coffers, her own projects, her own remittances under Angel of Hope Foundation and other initiatives that she is personally undertaking.
“This programme focuses on the elderly as she leaves no one and no place behind. We thank the First Lady for her vision. These are Sasol chickens, Boshvelds, and mostly hybrid chickens, which adapt to any weather conditions,” he said.
Mr Passmore Nyamadzawo, a provincial livestock specialist for Mashonaland West Province, showered praises on the First Lady for the gesture.
“We thank our First Lady for the chicken breeds that she has brought because these types of chickens grow well with high egg production efficiency and good meat quality. We hope these beneficiaries will keep them well and create a hub for these chickens. These breeds were rare in our province, and our experts will help monitor them and assist the beneficiaries so that we help Amai to fulfil her vision,” he said.
Gogo Mary Paradza was at a loss for words.
“I am thankful to the First Lady for what she has don, and we are extremely grateful because we are widows who lost spouses a long time ago. She has remembered us again and this time with chicken, which we are going to breed and sell to get money for the grinding mill and fees for our grandchildren as well as relish,” she said.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Gogo Shupikai Mutoranhang, who said she had been thrown a lifeline.
“With the introduction of this project, I believe my life will change for the better, and I shall be able to put food on the table for my grandchildren as well as send them to school. I want to take the project seriously and ensure I also train my grandchildren to run the project so that hunger becomes a thing of the past in our household”, she said with a broad smile.
Gogo Thenjiwe Dube said, “The introduction of this project in this community shows that the First Lady is God-sent. We did not have breeds similar to those that have been brought her, which have quality meat and produce many eggs.
“This means we have a chance to make money from the sale of the chickens and eggs. We wish to invite the First Lady sometime in the future to come and witness the success of her project. All that she is doing shows that she is a loving mother with the interests and welfare of the people at heart,” she said.
Minister of State for Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs and Devolution Hon Marian Chombo thanked the First Lady for her thoughtfulness.
“We are deeply grateful to you for unveiling such a programme. You frequently visit us here in Mashonaland West Province, ushering us the opportunity to set foot on the train of development and today’s project is a one of its kind,” she said.
