Vision will not feed your children- Part 2

 

In 2021 I joined a non governmental organisation whose vision I resonated with, Empowered, Inclusive Self-sustaining Communities. My job was to head the organisation’s skills development arm Harare Technical and Agricultural Academy. I was practically handed an open check, I could dream all I wanted as long as I had the bandwidth to implement the dreams. I was excited and lacked the confidence that I had what it took to grow this thing. I wasn’t too vocal when I interacted with others in this field because ‘ I hadn’t studied for this, so I am not qualified to speak’.

 

I researched, spoke to farmers etc and that same year  I organised my first   farmer’s field day 150kms out of Harare to visit a farmer who grew tomato all year round in open fields (traditionally tomatoes are only grown in summer in open fields with winter crops being planted in greenhouses).  I implemented what we had learnt on this trip and again it was hard work. The crop grew well and then it was time to harvest. To my dismay a lot of farmers had had the same idea and there was an oversupply of tomatoes in the market which depressed market prices. We tried drying them, making chutney but we had inadequate knowledge and made huge losses. Selling to recover our costs was an option but our quantities were too small, the markets available required deliveries and we did not have that capacity. More tomatoes were donated than were sold, we were not the only farmers with this problem. I learnt the same lesson (remember the vegetables) the hard way, there is more to farming than just agronomy, it is a business enterprise.  This time though instead of letting it stop me, I used it as a learning curve.

 I also learnt the importance of having the right people around you. My boss cried with me, laughed with me throughout this process, she steered me back to the drawing board and ordered me to dream again. I shifted my attention to the virtual platform, I designed and curated multiple trainings and interactive groups for farmers using whatsapp groups and Zoom. I realised that whilst production may not be my best area, I could support those that were in production through up to date, practical and cost effective information. These were therefore platforms for this and farmer interactions with various experts

 

I got to plan more training events and sometimes 6 people would pitch up for a $2 training. I will be honest and say this could be disheartening but also heartwarming as I got to meet amazing people including 165 women from the Muslim community in Stapleford, they ran with the vision and made things happen and a 9 year old who wanted to go into farming to make some extra pocket money. I don’t understand why farmers would cry about the absence of technical knowledge, extension services etc but still not pitch up for training, I still haven’t quite figured out that part just as yet and I won’t stop trying.

It’s interesting how when you take one step in a certain direction, a staircase seems to appear and that was what literally happened to me. As I honed my skills as a communicator, curator and convener, things were about to go the next level, part 3 loading