Chinhoyi, 18 July 2022 (TDI): Hazvinei Kakvikatema from Zimbabwe established a hydroponic system with the support of USAID and the World Food Programme (WFP).
US Agency for International Development (USAID) reported her progress through a tweet on July 17, 2022.
Read this story abt Hazvinei. With USAID & @WFP support, she established a hydroponic system & grows 5 types of vegetables in a very small space w/only water. Every 3 weeks she grows 266 plants & sells 200 to hotels in Chinhoyi https://t.co/Aj7XI5YE3c
— USAID (@USAID) July 17, 2022
By using the hydroponic system, five types of vegetables are grown with only water in a very small space. Hazvinei grows 266 plants every 3 weeks and sells 200 to the hotels in Chinhoyi.
Hazvinei is a 50-year-old lady and is the leader of a women’s organization in Chinhoyi’s densely populated area, Gadzema, Zimbabwe. The women collaborate to address COVID-19, poverty, and financial difficulties.
In Zimbabwe, people think that farming only takes place on land that has plenty of healthy soil. Most people have never thought that using water that has been infused with the right nutrients could be successful and even the future of urban farming.
Hazvinei’s farming experience is very different. She has very limited space in her home for farming but she recently became a high-value crop farmer. Her greenhouse is not an ordinary one.
She uses the hydroponic system for cultivating five different kinds of vegetables in the space on a five-square-meter plot. She would require six to seven times the amount of land in traditional farming to grow vegetables for sale.
Hydroponic Farming
Hydroponic farming develops crops three times more than traditional farming on land. It is related to water, nutrient, and energy-efficient system that uses a solar-powered battery system to pump water to the plants.
Hazvinei and her family’s source of food and income is now a collection of plastic pipes, a solar-powered pump, buckets, and a plant solution that provides the nutrients that her crops require.
USAID’s Urban Resilience Building Programme
Hazvinei is a participant in an Urban Resilience Building Programme that is funded by USAID. The program generates income projects across Zimbabwe.
USAID and WFP trained her in providing tools and skills related to hydroponic farming projects. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, thousands of families faced an economic crisis.
People lost their jobs and business are also shut down. The same was the case with Hazvinei’s family. But now her family supports her in a hydroponic system for their consumption and also to sell vegetables.
USAID responded to the food insecurity due to COVID-19 in urban areas and started Urban Resilience Building Programmes. These programs help families with agriculture and livelihood practices and help them to start income-generating programs.
Out of 140,000 households in urban areas, almost 1,200 are focusing on hydroponic farming in Zimbabwe with the help of USAID.
