News

Mimosa’s Mtshingwe nursery project aims to ensure that farmers get adequate training in horticulture, which is the branch of plant agriculture dealing with garden crops, fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants. This need for horticulture is recognized in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2, “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.”

To this end, Mtshingwe Nursery is training farmers across Zimbabwe’s Zvishavane district on good agronomic practices which, will in turn, improve their livelihoods by increasing farmers’ profits and improving access to diverse and nutrient-rich diets. The training is well attended by women who traditionally have had less access than men to markets and education. The training sessions address these constraints and aim to place women farmers on the path to increased productivity and expanded horticulture markets.

Farmers undergoing a training session.

Mimosa has also established fenced nutritional gardens, with solar-powered water reticulation systems. Farmers managing these gardens obtained their skills at Mtshingwe Nursery and are now able to grow high-value crops to feed themselves and sell to the market. The emphasis is on community ownership of all projects established by Mimosa.