The ManicaPost
Post Correspondent
MINISTER of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Dr Chris Mushohwe, has called on communities to embrace smart agriculture and undertake conservation farming, drip irrigation as well as grow drought resistant small grains.Dr Mushohwe made the remarks at St Joseph’s Murehwa Primary School where 231 trainers were graduating from an Environmental Management Agency two-day course on conserving the environment last Saturday.
Dr Mushohwe, who is also the Member of National Assembly for Mutare West, urged people in his constituency to take advantage of the knowledge that was imparted to them by EMA and conserve the environment.
“The graduands are now your resource people and the local leadership must take advantage of them to ensure that there is a boom in projects here in Mutare West.
“This training enhances community adaptive capacities in the wake of global warming and climate change. Communities should therefore embrace the climate smart agriculture and undertake conservation farming, drip irrigation, perma-culture as well as grow small grains which are drought resistant,” he said.
He said without doubt, human activities had negatively affected the environment’s components which include air, land, water, animals, vegetation, micro-organisms and other forms of life.
Dr Mushohwe said problems bedeviling the population were as a result of factors like deforestation, soil erosion, poaching of wildlife and timber, discharge of chemicals into the environment from industry
“Due to these harsh activities, we are left facing a myriad of challenges that include land degradation, biodiversity, desertification, climate change, silted rivers, dams and polluted air among others.
“All these challenges that we are facing can easily be resolved through working with local and traditional leadership. Chiefs remain the custodians of our environmental resources,” he said.
In an interview, EMA provincial manager, Mr Kingstone Chitotombe, said the graduands were supposed to go into their respective communities and train their fellow villagers on how to preserve the environment.
Said Mr Chitotombe: “They have learnt apiculture, waste management, the establishment of orchards to mention just, but a few and all this will result in people being able to manage their own resource, thereby preserving the environment and the community they live in. It is a community empowerment initiative because at the end of the day, the environment is conserved and people are empowered because they will benefit from the preservation of the environment.”
The course saw trainers being trained in wetland management, gulley reclamation, bee keeping, biogas energy, woodlot management consolidated gardening, hay bailing, thatch grass projects, broom grass combing and non-timber forest based produce access and beneficiation.
They were also trained in the general cycle on projects planning and management. One of the graduands, Ms Sylvia Tonzi, said: “Not only have I learnt that if we avoid deforestation, especially to us beekeepers, our bees will have shelter and we can also create beehives from the same trees. The course is a win-win situation because the environment will be conserved while we reap benefits from it.”
The graduands walked away with certificates, beehives, quail birds, quail bird feeds and hatcheries.
