Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Manicaland Bureau
MORE than 500 women in Ruwangwe, Nyanga, are earning a living from a community nutrition garden which is also boosting their food security.

The initiative, dubbed “Garden raMambo”, was established in the 1940s as a small venture meant to cater for the nutritional needs of a few families, but has been expanded over the years to include more women.

Vice chairperson of the committee running the garden, Mrs Rosemary Chiringa, said the project had changed the lives of the women involved.

“We originally had a small garden with a hedge but in 2015, we pooled our resources to buy a fence, which was erected to protect our garden from animals and thieves.

“The garden has since been expanded as more people came on board and we now have more than 500 women,” she said.

Mrs Chiringa said they were mainly growing greens, tomatoes, mealies, onions, peas and beans.

They were however, experiencing challenges in finding markets for their produce in the Covid-19 period.

“Before Covid-19, we used to sell our produce locally as there were many people who wanted it but now we have nowhere to take it.

“We sometimes take it to the areas such as Nyazingwe and Fombe where mining activities are happening, but they can only take a fraction of what we produce.

“We have resorted to drying the vegetables with the hope that we can sell them later,” said Mrs Chiringa.

The garden has for years been irrigated using water from a nearby dam, which flows into canals but their source of water has been affected by siltation.

“We really need to scoop the dam so that we can improve the flow of water but we cannot do it alone.

“We have approached the office of the Member of Parliament for Nyanga North Cde Chido Sanyatwe for assistance,” she said.