Food security through promoting indigenous plants

Developing countries are particularly affected by the consequences of climate change. The people of Zimbabwe are already feeling the effects of climate change, as droughts are getting longer and extreme weather conditions are increasing. At present, Zimbabwe is also badly affected by the famine in East Africa. Over 4 million people are suffering from food shortages due to the ongoing drought.

The economic potential of many indigenous plants is often poorly understood, which is why these plants have often been neglected in commercial agriculture in Zimbabwe. However, these plants are drought-resistant, locally adapted, there are enough of them and they require little agricultural input to grow.

In the fight against hunger, the Hilfswerk International project activities use these native plants. We rely on innovative methods that we have been developing and using with our office in Zimbabwe since 2010. On the one hand, the successful production and marketing of indigenous plant species provide an important alternative source of income for the local population, and on the other hand they also promote the protection of natural resources and measures to combat climate change.

Our program focuses on the marketing of plant species that naturally occur in the wild in Zimbabwe (eg Baobab, devil's claw) as well as the production and marketing of drought-resistant, cultivated crops (mainly Amaranth).

• Overall objective: to strengthen the resilience and adaptability of farmers to climate change
• Specific objective: to improve food security and reduce the poverty of beneficiaries

• Identification and selection of farmers and determination of training measures
• Training in cultivation and processing, quality and hygiene management, organic farming methods and climate change
• Promotion of production, processing and storage of drought-resistant plants
• Strengthening cooperation between smallholder producers and private companies

In this project phase, we reach 100 households from the most vulnerable population groups (70% of the beneficiaries are women);500 people benefit directly from the measures

Chimanimani