TRYMORE TAGWIREI
MIRROR REPORTER

MASVINGO – The Zimbabwe Agribusiness Women Network (ZWAN), a food festival and networking platform for women in the agriculture business trained over 50 women in the Hwendedzo area, Masvingo rural on Saturday.
The training took place at Ngoni Mutodi’s plot in Ward 32, under Chief Chikwanda. ZWAN Executive Director Fillipa Jaya, agronomists and ZWAN executive members attended the trainings.
The farmers were trained on fruit plantation production, mushroom production, horticulture, and value addition .They then toured Mutodi’s farm with a variety of produce as cabbage, beans, pepper, watermelon and butternuts afterwards.
Jaya said ZWAN was registered under the Zimbabwe Youth Council (ZYC) and works with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development.
“The organization was specifically designed for women in agriculture with the aims of showcasing skills and talent in both farming and culinary art by promoting women empowerment.
“Today farmers learnt a lot of things including acquiring group loans from Agribank to support their projects. We also trained them on product value addition and opening new markets. We will also work with Agriculture Extension Officers (Agritex) officers and ZimTrade to open up new markets,” she said.
Farmers received trainings on fruit plantation production, mushroom production, and horticulture and value addition on farm products. People went on field tour where they were trained on horticulture production.
Jaya founded ZWAN on January 4, 2023, and registered it with ZYC. ZWAN was then officially launched by Deputy Minister of Lands Davis Marapira with the aim of transforming the lives of women across the country economically by supporting their agriculture businesses.