AFRICA Grain and Seeds has donated 50 by 25 bags of cow peas and fruit trees to the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services and vowed to do the same to more than 50 000 women and youth across the country.
Mrs Zandile Matiwaza-Denga Africa Grain and Seeds vice-president delivered the donation on Thursday in partnership with KamPay, Humble smiles, Windmill, Grow a tree foundation, Goldstone, Hammersmith, 24 solutions, Zympay, Mpumalanga Broadcasting Television (MBTv) and Black excellence network.
Mrs Matiwaza-Denga said her organisation together with partners were pushing to make sure Zimbabwe becomes food secure and supports the international markets.
“I was interviewed by BBC UK and they said I’m very confident with Zimbabwe. They said ‘what’s the one thing you would want to change?’. I said I’m going to make sure that Zimbabwe becomes a conversation in terms of food security in international markets. ‘They said what’s your target and are you sure you’re getting there?’ I said by the time you’re calling me from the UK as BBC then we have made the right noise. So we are on the right path,” she said.
ZPCS Commissioner-General Moses Chihubvu said the donation would go a long way in pursuing food security in line with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s NDS1.
“As ZPCS really appreciate your donation of 50 by 25 bags of cow peas and an assistance of trees which I believe will go a long way in alleviating malnutrition issues as well as odd nutritional value within our Prisons and Correctional facilities. Indeed, we are receiving this donation at a time when it is needed the most considering that preparations for the 2021/2022 farming season have already started. Besides achieving food security, cow peas is a cash crop which promotes sustainable agriculture, a dimension that ZPCS is pursuing in line with NDS1,” Officer Commanding Harare Metropolitan Province Senior Assistant Commissioner Alvord Gapare read the statement on his behalf.
Grow A Tree Foundation executive officer Mr Kudakwashe Manyanga was present at the event. Black Excellence Network and MBTv was represented by Sisanda Qwabe-Coutaud.
Manyanga said they will be giving a minimum of five hundred fruit trees to rural schools across the country.
“We will be running a green school project where we will be giving a minimum of five hundred fruit trees at particular rural schools across the country. We are looking at expanding the program to provide one hundred thousand trees in the next 18 months, and five million trees in the next few years. We will be giving citrus trees, Avocado and Moringa trees,” said Manyanga.