The 28-member group grows peanuts on land surrounding their homesteads, harvests the nuts and processes them into various products. Damba who is the chairperson of the women’s group said, “We never thought that peanut farming would be so profitable.
Each member of our group is now earning a sustainable income from the enterprise. We are producing good quality nuts and increasing our levels of production. Every one of us is now able to send our children to school and fund the basic requirements in our day to day living.”
Increasing crop yields
According to the project’s co-ordinator Fadzai Kashoti, the enterprise, established in 2011, focuses on helping women farmers in rural areas to grow and market increased yields of their peanut crop. She said the International Rural Development Agency (IRDA) was playing a pivotal role in distributing the group’s products to local and international markets.
In a recent interview with The Zimbabwean, Kashoti said the project had introduced improved hybrid varieties of seed to the women and taught them more effective methods of growing their crop and expanding crop yields. “We have also worked with them to expand peanut oil and butter production and afforded them opportunities to market their crops and the related nut products,” she said.
The project, funded by the International Rural Development Agency (IRDA) in conjunction with the Zimbabwe government through the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Community Development, has given the women tools for survival and the training they need to remain competitive in the marketing of their products.
Processing by-products
The group’s treasurer Esnath Chaibva said the women had also gained access to advanced peanut processing technologies, explaining that peanut oil was a major money earner for the group.
“A recently purchased peanut oil expeller has enabled our association to enter into peanut processing and marketing areas that have been dominated by bigger companies, and the sales of our processed oil has significantly increased profits,” she said.
The expeller – a compact, electric press – is operated by Chaibva. She has also trained other association members to operate and maintain the machine. “The money we make from the oil is enabling us to sustain our project, even though donor support is dwindling. We need to be able to make our own money and not always depend on others,” she said.
Besides being able to send their children to school, the women participating in the project have earned money with which to purchase household furniture and some luxury goods such as radios and televisions.
Others have managed to extend and electrify their homesteads using the profits shared equally among themselves from the group. The women have also started a micro finance project amongst themselves and some have developed other income generating projects.
Post published in: Gender Equality