Written by Joyce Chimbi, a cohort three graduate of grantee partner ESAFF Uganda’s Agroecology School for Journalists & Communicators. Agroecology Fund supports this initiative with the aim of building the capacity of journalists and communicators to write and report on agroecology in their communities.
In various shapes and forms, peasant and family farmers from across the African continent came together from their respective countries to showcase the best of their seeds and foods. As part of the Agroecology Fund’s Learning Exchange on Agroecological Economies, Agroecology Fund grantee partners visited this year’s Good Seed and Food Festival in Harare to share their experiences and interact with the best of Zimbabwe’s traditional and organic seeds and food from the four corners of the country.
Carmel Kifukieto Manzanza from the Democratic Republic of Congo experienced firsthand how prices vary depending on the route that the farmer takes to sell their produce, “when farmers sell directly from their farm or as an individual, they often sell at a price that is lower than the market rate. But when there is an event such as this (festival), that brings many people together, the prices then become favorable for rural peasant farmers who are often cut off or at the margins of the market systems. And, yet the prices are also favorable for the consumer compared to what they would have paid in other markets such as a supermarket. Overall, it was an opportunity for farmers and local peasant communities to showcase what they can do.”
January Watchman Mvula from the Sustainable Rural Community Development Organization in Malawi, “learned that Zimbabwe as a country is investing much of its resources in organizing farmers’ cooperatives and in particular, peasant farmers from local communities. By doing that, they are also transferring various skills like drying for preservation and processing for value addition.”
What stood out for Ruth Badubaye from the Centre d’ Appui a’la Gestion Durable des Forests Tropical in the DRC are the innovative, value addition activities undertaken by peasant farmers. “They had packaged their products in ways that are very appealing to consumers while still maintaining a price range that is fair to the consumer. I took some time to learn how the farmers produce such big fruits. The watermelons and pumpkins were very big. I also shared what I know and, in the end, I realized that there is always a way to learn, exchange and improve knowledge all around. My take away is that in this community, the post-harvest processing or value addition is really done at a more advanced level. In DRC, people only do value addition to fruits and vegetables and only for household consumption. In Zimbabwe, the community does it for commercial purposes and this is very impressive as it helps put more money in a farmer’s pocket.”
A member of the African Alliance Against Industrial Plantation Expansion, Nasako Besingi a grantee of the Agroecology Fund, observed, “I have interacted with various farmers’ gatherings and the idea of a food and seed festival is not unique to Zimbabwe, as we have similar festivals in Cameroon. But for the most part, that is where the similarities end. We have many more crop varieties than what I saw and many more farmers than what I saw. Perhaps the issue of fewer farmers is down to the fact that the festival was hosted in an urban area which limits the participation of peasant farmers.
“I come from Mundemba in Cameroon the headquarter of the Korup National Park
which extends over a huge chunk of mostly undisturbed forest. There, we have lots of plant varieties or what we call non-timber forest products such as vegetables and many other food varieties, that grow without human or farmer intervention”, said Besingi.
“But I also saw a few varieties of crops that we do not grow in Cameroon or Central Africa and a number of my colleagues from Gambia purchased some traditional cereal and vegetable seeds for planting when they return home.
“If you were to visit a similar food and seed festival in Cameroon, you will have access to foods that have come directly from the forest, like native tubers similar to yam and not necessarily cultivated. Our soils are still very healthy and in fact, if you try to grow say Irish potato using fertilizer, it will all rot and go to waste. It means you are adding more to the plant than it needs.”
“I did not see forest products in Harare but, for us, they are very important to our food systems in both rural and urban areas. There are forested areas in Zimbabwe, what happened to their forest foods?
“This is the beauty of farmers from across the continent meeting, interacting, learning and sharing from each other. You get to see and understand what is possible, and you are able to think beyond what you can see and to try new agroecologically innovative ideas. Overall, it was a fantastic festival and I had a great time!”