The Green House Project
We at Zimconserve are very grateful to Beyond Subsistence for sponsoring a community-based project in Seke rural area.
A greenhouse to the uninitiated – is an overly efficient method of farming agroforestry or horticultural products such as commercial trees, herbs, flowers and vegetables within a protected structure or house as the name suggests covered in transparent material. Besides being efficient in nature it is cheaper to erect or set up as it basically requires gum poles, plastic covering and the knowhow at most.
The advantage of a greenhouse like the 30m x 20m setup is its ability to control the environment that is humidity, temperature, pests and the plants from adverse weather conditions generally prevalent in sub-Saharan climates.
According to our field technicians, the establishment of the project endeavours to enhance the production and distribution of healthy uniform disease-free seedlings to the farming community in and around Seke. They also stressed that it would serve as a training demonstration unit for the unemployed youth and farmers as well as a motivational tool to establish subsequent community nurseries thereby creating self-sustenance and job creation for the beneficiaries among other benefits. They added that the villagers would acquire additional income from sales of nursery seedlings and thus aid in meeting our goal of equipping and training farmers with technical know-how in permaculture.
The Councilor for Seke, Mr Simbarashe Ngarande was full of praises for the project and said it would go a long way in job creation and the alleviation of poverty among the locals by enhancing their livelihoods and well-being. Mrs Pamela Zhande, a local farmer also hailed the development as a sustainable agricultural method and urged fellow farmers to take a cue from Zimconserve’s example and establish similar projects of the kind as a way of uplifting their livelihoods. I would like to conclude by saying that the project is a milestone for both our organization and the community as both parties were set to benefit immensely following its establishment.
