STORY: Zimbabwean farmers opt for traditional crops to mitigate climate impacts
DATELINE: Oct. 1, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:16
LOCATION: Harare
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of food sold by local citizens
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Shona): SARAH KAMHUNGA, Farmer
3. various of food sold by local citizens
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): PATIENCE SHUMBA, Program officer, Zimbabwe Small-Holder Organic Farmers Forum
5. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): HILDA MANDITSVARA, Crop production specialist, Department of Agritex, Ministry of Agriculture
6. various of food sold by local citizens

STORYLINE:

The 2023 Zimbabwe National Food and Seed Festival concluded on Saturday in the capital city Harare.

Farmers brought organic seeds to the two-day fair.

In Zimbabwe, some farmers are shifting back to planting traditional crops such as millet and sorghum which are more drought-tolerant.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Shona): SARAH KAMHUNGA, Farmer
"When we adopted traditional small grains, we were satisfied because we could harvest enough grain to consume and share with others in the community, we even had a surplus, and we could set aside some grain to be used as seeds."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): PATIENCE SHUMBA, Program officer, Zimbabwe Small-Holder Organic Farmers Forum
"Our seeds, our traditional seeds, our traditional grains are resilient, are climate resilient, and our food, all the traditional grains that we are farming, or that we are advocating for, they are nutritious."

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): HILDA MANDITSVARA, Crop production specialist, Department of Agritex, Ministry of Agriculture
"We are having climate change, and we see that the traditional varieties that we usually have are the ones that are more adaptable to the current conditions that we are having, so we are saying to our farmers, use and share that seed that you have, and own it and try to share as much as you can so that we achieve the food security that we are seeking."

According to statistics from the agriculture ministry, Zimbabwe produced over 280,000 metric tonnes of traditional grains in the 2022/2023 farming season, up from 194,100 metric tonnes in the previous farming season.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Harare.
(XHTV)