First Lady, Grace Mugabe has urged farmers around the country to move to small grains which she said are both healthy and drought resistant.
Grace, who was speaking after opening a girls’ dormitory named after her at Hande High School in Buhera, said small grain farming will help alleviate hunger in Buhera, a perennially drought hit area.
“The type of soil here is not fertile enough for maize. It does not allow maize to be grown in this area. So my call to you is you should try to venture into small grain production. You should also try finger millet, Rapoko and other small grains that will help realise a better yield for this area,” said the First Lady Grace Mugabe.
She added that she has long stopped eating maize sadza after she gained knowledge on the benefits of small grain sadza.
“Knowledge is power, I have long stopped eating white sadza after I gained the knowledge .The food to eat is brown sadza, that is what our forefathers would eat. It’s better to eat millet sadza,” she suggested.
“Maize was not meant for human consumption at all, but as stock feed,” Grace added.
Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs, Mandi Chimene who was part of the event urged the people of Buhera to dump maize production due to persistent crop failure.
“Maize is not your crop here and you need to consider migrating to small grain production. We have seen some fields with very poor crops,” she said.
