Across the fourteen villages in our Community Resilience Initiative, roughly seven out of every ten active farmers are women. They plant, weed, harvest, aggregate, sell — and reinvest the proceeds directly into their households. When we talk about food security in Zimbabwe, we are almost always talking about the decisions women make.
Yet women farmers still face structural barriers: limited access to inputs on credit, difficulty renting equipment, and less time to attend training because of household responsibilities. The Community Resilience Initiative was designed around these realities.
We deliver inputs in smaller, more affordable pack sizes. Training sessions are scheduled around childcare and market days. Aggregation points are placed close to homesteads so women do not have to travel long distances alone with their produce.
The results have been striking. Cooperatives led by women in Mashonaland Central have moved from subsistence production into consistent commercial supply of tomatoes, leafy greens and chillies. Several are now direct suppliers to Lakefront's value-addition line.
Empowering women in agriculture is not a side project. It is the fastest, most reliable path to national food security — and to healthier, better-educated rural communities.
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