By Shephered Masunda, Own Correspondent
The European Union’s ambassador to Zimbabwe has been impressed by the increasing number of women who are participating in fighting the impact of climate change.
Speaking during the Zimbabwe Agricultural Growth Programme(ZAPG) conference in Harare recently,European Union ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Jobst von Kirchmann said he was pleased by the way women are working in the fight against effects of climate change.
He said women are more vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change, such as food insecurity.Zimbabwe is one the country which promotes gender equality through government efforts resulting in women taking key roles in the agricultural sector.
“Some women are living in rural areas but through our programmes together with the government they are creating employment for themselselves and income opportunities along the value chains,” he said.
Mr Kirchmann also said he was happy with the list of panelists during the conference which was dominated by women who are tackling climate change effects in their respective areas of specialisation.
Mrs Esther Marwa who is into dairy farming in Chivhu said with ZAPG she managed to enhance the resilience and sustainability of the livestock sector through climate-smart interventions, natural resource management and mitigation of animal diseases.
Another pig farmer Mrs Letwinner Nyagano emphasised on the issue of value edition as she is now exporting pork to Mozambique.
“I started at a small scale, keeping few pigs which was ” Mukota” type but through ZAPG, I managed to step further rearing other breeds and finally exporting,” said a jubilant Nyagano.
She added on by saying she is aware of the effects of climate change which can result in drought but urged everyone to play their part, keep focus on the goal and positive results will be achieved.
ZAPG was launched in 2019 with the financial support of the European Union(EU) amounting to forty million euros. It had an overarching objective to contribute to the development of a diversified and efficient agriculture sector that promotes inclusive Green economic growth.The programme covered Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces and focused on six livestock value chains which are beef, dairy, poultry, goats, pigs and support projects focusing on linking agricultural education, extension and research and animal health and food safety.