"Millet Is The New Maize In Zimbabwe" As Food Insecurity Piles Pressure

Climate change has forced some subsistence farmers in Zimbabwe to abandon maize for traditional grains such as millet.

Jestina Nyamukunguvengu, from Rushinga District in Mashonaland Central Province, told africanews she is confident of a bumper harvest after planting millet on her two-hectare plot where she used to grow maize. She said:

We grew up farming millet, but we stopped it years back. The maize we adopted as our staple food, it needs a lot of water, so, we have returned to millet.

They are laborious to grow, and the work is hard, but it is worth it. It’s better to endure the pain because many people are surviving.

Another Zimbabwean farmer, Maria Chagwena, said growing millet has enabled her to send her children to school. She said:

I got a lot of money from millet farming, I even use the money to take my children to school, buy food and even build my house.

Recently I bought my roofing sheets for my house using the money I made from small grains after the WFP bought my millet.

I was so happy, and I can tell you I will never leave millet farming.

These farmers are on the front lines of a project proposed by India that has led the U.N.’s Food and Agricultural Organisation to name 2023 as “The Year of Millets.”

In Rushinga District, land under millet reportedly almost tripled over the past decade.

The U.N.’s World Food Programme trained 63 000 small-scale farmers in drought-prone areas in the previous season and also deployed dozens of threshing machines and gave seed packs to the farmers.

Melody Tsoriyo, the district’s agronomist, said the growing of millet has improved food security for villagers. She said:

You’ll find the ones who grew maize are the ones who are seeking food assistance, and those who have grown sorghum or pearl millet are still eating their small grains.

WFP spokesman Tatenda Macheka said millets “are helping us reduce food insecurity” in Zimbabwe.