First Lady urges chiefs’ wives to protect vulnerable groups

Chiefs’ wives are the primary caretakers of the vulnerable people who include orphans, elders, widows and victims of domestic violence in their communities, so there is a need for them to be food secure.

It is against this background that the First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa is promoting the “Zunde Ramambokadzi” concept by availing traditional grains seed to chiefs’ wives to fight hunger and malnutrition in their communities.

The Zunde Ramambokadzi concept, which was launched in Masvingo last month, encourages the production of traditional grains that include rapoko, sorghum, cowpeas and millet as they are nutritious and also tolerant to dry weather conditions, unlike other crops that easily succumb to drought.

She handed over traditional grains seed to 90 chiefs’ wives from Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West and Mashonaland Central provinces.

The function was witnessed by Ministers of State for Mashonaland East Aplonia Munzverengwi, Mashonaland West’s Mary Mliswa-Chikoka, Mashonaland Central’s Monica Mavhunga and Oliver Chidawu of Harare.

Chiefs, senior Government officials and representatives from the financial sector also attended. The First Lady encouraged chiefs’ wives to lead by example in reverting back to the production of traditional grains.

The chiefs’ wives applauded the First Lady’s initiative of introducing the Zunde Ramambokadzi concept which they said will go a long way in reducing hunger in their communities.

Chief Nechombo’s wife, Mrs Rufaro Chikukwa, applauded the First Lady for her philanthropic work which has seen her assisting vulnerable communities.


“Zunde Ramambokadzi is a noble initiative that will increase food production and ensure household food and nutrition security,” she said.

“We thank Amai for her projects that are empowering women and many other vulnerable people in different areas. This programme is complementing the Zunde Ramambo concept and it will go a long way in ensuring people do not starve, we should put the seed to good use.”

The First Lady urged the chiefs’ wives to establish training programmes where experts in different disciplines can come and economically empower women.

“Long back, people were healthy because they ate traditional food,” she said.

“We have run away from our traditional food and it is high time we return to our roots. The importance of traditional foods in our diet is now coming back through education.

“Climate change requires us to switch to other crops that can adapt to the harsh weather conditions. I have brought traditional grains because they are tolerant to dry conditions. Even during droughts, traditional grains perform well and people will realise significant yields.”



As part of her empowerment drive towards upliftment of the First Lady invited other stakeholders to educate women on other available business opportunities.

She brought experts from the financial sector, agriculture and the Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development ministry officials.

The ministry director, Mrs Vida Mashangwa, said they were supporting the Zunde Ramambokadzi concept as it encouraged self-sufficiency.

She said women had been excluded from participating in economic sectors such as the agriculture, mining, tourism and manufacturing.

“We have come up with a Broad-Based Women’s Economic Empowerment Framework to ensure women participate in economic sectors,” said Mrs Mashangwa.

“The Ministry has also come up with the Women Development Fund and Community Development Fund which women can access without collateral.”

Women’s Bank chief executive, Mrs Mandas Marikanda, said women, especially those in the rural areas, were financially excluded and urged them to open bank accounts so they could access loans.

She said the bank had several packages tailor-made for women and encouraged them to participate so that they can be part of the 2030 national vision of attaining a middle income society.

“Women should approach the bank for loans to spearhead different projects,” said Mrs Marikanda.

“We used to have women who did not have anything, but now instead of relying on handouts they are now selling traditional grains to other vulnerable people.”

Businesswoman, Ms Rudo Boka, encouraged fellow women to consider growing chia, a highly nutritious export crop.

She said the crop could be used for diversification.

“Chia does well in sandy loam soils and takes between 120 to 140 days to maturity,” she said.

“We are producing the crop organically and exporting it. Farmers growing the crop will have high returns when compared to tobacco. Chia is lucrative than other cash crops.”