The National Rural Women Farming Assembly has encouraged farmers to plant indigenous crops varieties in order to realise bumper harvest.
Emily Mphazi, Chairlady for the National Rural Women’s Assembly, highlighted that in addition to good productivity indigenous foods are good for human health unlike food from hybrid crop varieties.
“Indigenous foods have no chemicals that affect our bodies. We eat food that contains a lot of chemicals, so we are here to encourage all farmers to use local seeds to keep our bodies healthier” Said Mphazi.
Mphazi added “Nowadays, many people in our country are suffering from different diseases such as, BP, Sugar, and cancer. It’s because we’re eating chemicals. So as women, we want to remind the country as we are in the rain season to plant local seeds,”
Dr. Laurent Pungulani, head of Agriculture Chitedze Research Station, also indicated that farmers must keep local seeds as one way of conserving local diversity.
The National Rural Women Farming Assembly organized the Agriculture Fair, which intends to promote local seeds. The fair brought together different women and cooperatives in farming across the country.
