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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Matabeleland South Bureau Chief
AN all-female seven-member committee is spearheading development at Progressive Horticulture Garden in Gwanda where they have successfully implemented an integrated farming model.

The farmers are operating a viable horticulture garden, nursery, and orchard in their one-hectare garden. They have 2 000 tree seedlings in their nursery, and about 200 trees in their orchard, which has guava, lemon, grape, paw paws, avocado, and banana trees.

They are targeting to have 20 000 tree seedlings in their nursery by year-end.

The farmers have butternut in their garden and have prepared land to plant tomatoes. They usually produce horticulture crops that include tomatoes, butternut, vegetables, green pepper, and carrots.

Progressive Garden was established in 2019 with the assistance of Hand in Hand Zimbabwe. It has 43 members, 38 of whom are women.

After harvesting their crop the farmers usually get one-and-a half tonnes of tomatoes and a tonne of butternuts.

In an interview during a belated International Women’s Day and World Water Day commemoration held at Progressive Horticulture Garden yesterday, Ms Atalia Moyo, who chairs the committee, said the integrated farming model has helped them record high returns.

This year’s women’s day commemoration was held under the theme “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”. The day is commemorated each year on March 8.

Ms Moyo said women have managed to spearhead their garden project towards success.

“We started this project in 2019 with the assistance of Hand in Hand Zimbabwe and we have managed to record significant success. The project started off as a horticulture initiative and we went on to introduce an orchard and a nursery,” she said.

“When we started the nursery we got tree seedlings from Forestry Commission. Now we preserve seeds from the fruits that we grow here and we use them to develop our tree seedlings. We sell most of the seedlings and we plant some in our garden in order to expand our orchard.”

Ms Moyo said they sell their tree seedlings to organisations and community members. She said since they started the project they have sold about 2 000 tree seedlings at US$1 each.

Progressive Garden vice secretary, Ms Ratidzai Chemhere said they sell their horticulture produce within their community, and at nearby schools as well as supplying vendors operating at Manama Business Centre.

The farmers were trained in crop and tree production which has helped them to sustain their business.

“There are specific seed varieties which we plant so that our trees do well. When we plant our seedlings we first apply animal manure in order to make the soil fertile,” said Ms Chemhere.

“When we plant trees in the orchard we leave a space of two metres in between so that they can perform well.”

Project member, Ms Maria Mukani said women have been empowered through the project and they are now able to fend for their families.

She said the garden is not only a reliable source of income, but also a food source for their families.

Ms Mukani said their community is now able to enjoy nutritious food such as fruits which were previously found only in urban areas.

She said they have also managed to start saving and lending groups using proceeds from the garden project.

“We are now economically empowered as members of the garden. We appreciate the opportunity we were given as women to fend for our families and to prove that we are capable of operating sustainable projects. In the past, we only saw fruits being sold in town, but we couldn’t afford them. Now we are able to collect fruits from our trees and feed our families” she said.–@DubeMatutu