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Growing Organic Maize in Zimbabwe

Growing Organic Maize

After we cleared the land, we hired a farmer to advise us on a high demand crop that is a food staple. He recommended corn which is relatively easy to grow despite having a long maturation cycle. Of all the crops which have planted to date, corn has been the most robust and resistant to serious problems such as disease and insect pests. It is easy to grow, and the size of the field in which we plant the corn is expansive. This is necessary since the plant requires a lot of space to grow healthily, and consequently produce a high yield. The project yielded a harvest of 3.5 tons in our first season. The greatest threat to our corn fields are the troops of baboons that live in the area. We use fencing with barbed wire on the top to dissuade them from entering the property, because they can strip a field in a single night. Cornmeal-based dietary staple of Zimbabwe is also the national dish, called sadza. Sadza to the Zimbabweans is like rice to the Chinese, or pasta to Italians. (Source: Food in Every Country)

Windpump Restoration Water Project

Windpump Water Restoration

A wind pump had been installed on the farm by my father for sustainable, low impact living. He had a borehole drilled in order to bring water to the property. When we converted the property into a working farm, we needed to repair the wind pump. Master plumbers and technicians were hired to fix it, but we subsequently discovered the wind was not strong enough to pump water to fields on the farm which lay at higher elevations. Therefore, we made the decision to retrofit the borehole with an electrical submersible pump, which provides the necessary pressure for irrigation. The wind pump conversion has transformed the windmill into a monument to my father’s dedicated life in Zimbabwe.

Creating Food Security in Africa Using Organic Farming

Zimbabwe Farm Project: A Legacy Project

In countries where food security is a systemic problem, the choice of eating organically grown foods versus those produced by traditional methods is rarely available. In our efforts to increase food security in the community, we made the decision to continue to use the sustainable farming techniques employed by my father. This includes recycling and re-purposing everything that is used on the farm. For instance, the corn husks, stalks, and other by-products of the harvests, were given to a local cattleman to feed his livestock. All harvests, preparation, and packaging of crops for sale is completed manually. We rely on renewable resources and optimize biological productivity through crop rotations.

The ZimFarm Project is a 501(c) 3 non-profit charitable organization . We empower women using social entrepreneurship and employment initiatives. We implement innovative, sustainable permaculture solutions and organic farming for food security.

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# 135 Mazowe
Harare, Zimbabwe

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