First Lady runs thriving garden, various projects in backyard

Tendai Rupapa

AGRIC4She patron First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa has a thriving garden and other various projects in the backyard of her home as she practices what she preaches when encouraging women to use their hands for the nourishment of their families.

The garden where she grows a variety of vegetables, is ever green and thriving.

Using that small space, Amai Mnangagwa is also rearing a breed of chickens called Brahma, road runners, broilers, rabbits and quail birds.

A farmer in her own right, the First Lady is showing women the wonders one can make using small pieces of land at their disposal.

A hands-on person who is results-oriented, the mother of the nation personally plants, weeds and waters her garden.

Growing one’s own food and vegetables, Dr Mnangagwa frequently advises, helps meet families’ dietary needs and removes strain on budgets, thus contributing to curbing gender-based violence.

She grows vegetables that include a rare produce of pumpkins called Menina Rajada and Mini paulista pumpkins, originally from Russia.

The mother of the nation bought the pumpkin seeds from Russia during her working visit to that country with the aim of giving local farmers variety since the produce is extra huge compared to our local pumpkins.

She is also distributing the seed to local farmers for them to have a variety of produce.

Other vegetables in her garden include bush potatoes, which she was introduced to by women in Manicaland during her cook-out competitions.

She also has butter beans, spinach, tomatoes, onions and carrots.

Covo, tsunga, rape, comfrey vegetables, green paper, cabbage, cauliflower, peas, garlic, lettuce and maize complete the long list of vegetables that she is growing.

Dr Mnangagwa who has a passion for the empowerment of women, has also unlocked doors for various women to venture into projects like poultry production and market gardening, by providing them with starter packs leaving no one behind.

The chickens she is keeping in her backyard are part of the ones she periodically gives to various women’s groups to start their projects to generate income for their upkeep and surplus for sale.

She also frequently dries the vegetables for distribution to the needy and also for her feeding programmes for schoolchildren and the elderly.

“I do this regularly to assist those in need. People must always have food to meet their nutritional requirements and whenever I get to them, as a mother, I always have something to give them. I urge women to utilise whatever piece of land they have even in their backyards to do gardening and plant different types of vegetables. Izvi zvinoita kuti usagare uchitsvaga mari yekunotenga zvinhu zvaunokwanisa kuzvirimira kana kupfuya wega,” she said.

Through her Angel of Hope Foundation, the First Lady has been a light of hope for the less privileged whom she constantly supplies with foodstuffs to meet their nutritional needs and other basic needs.

Her efforts, are a great lesson to the entire womenfolk to learn to use their hands for the benefit of their communities and families.

The First Lady, who is also the country’s health ambassador, has been instrumental in the establishment of nutrition gardens in both rural and urban areas countrywide to ensure people get easy access to a balanced diet. Previously marginalized San communities and the Doma in Mbire District has benefited from the concept introduced to them by Amai Mnangagwa.

In the past they never used to farm as they survived from hunting.

However, their gardens are now flourishing. Among beneficiaries of her projects are widows, the elderly, the disabled, youth and former ladies of the night whom she has personally assisted to start thriving projects on their own.

As a motivational factor, Amai Mnangagwa has also been celebrating the success of women farmers countrywide and giving them an assortment of prizes so that every citizen appreciates the benefits of farming and hard work.

Through her Agric4She programme, the First Lady routinely distributes seeds of various horticultural crops, including sorghum and millet, so that women can have their granaries to support their families, have surplus for sale and curb dependency syndrome.

She also joins the women in the planting and harvesting of the crops.

After cyclone Idai, the mother of the nation took vegetables from her backyard garden, dried them and gave them to Idai survivors.

Also during the Covid-19 induced lockdown, the pandemic could not dampen her spirits which also saw her drying vegetables and distributed them to the disadvantaged groups. – Herald