Story by Courage Bushe
The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) has a thriving horticulture project at Zvishavane Prison, which is now providing supplementary feeding to prisoners and other prisons in the province.
As one of the approaches that has been adopted by the agricultural sector to boost horticulture production and food security in the country, field schools are playing a pivotal role in facilitating the spread of modern farming techniques.
ZPCS farm managers from all stations in the Midlands Province, who attended a horticulture field school in Zvishavane this Tuesday, concurred that the programme will guarantee food security in prisons.
A farm manager said, “The lessons have been very wholesome because we start from the nursery where we prepare the seed and go to planting and watching it grow until harvesting.”
Another said, “Field days are and will continue to be crucial forums for farmers and stakeholders to interact and also learn about modern farming techniques as well as share experience that is useful to agricultural development.”
According to ZPCS’s Officer Commanding Midlands Province, Commissioner Somemore Gate, the institution through its farms in the Midlands Province, is targeting to contribute to the government’s vision on food security.
“The competition for production among provinces should continue if we are to reach where we want as far as agriculture is concerned. As an institution, we are contributing immensely to the dictates of the National Development Strategy One through farming. We are also playing a pivotal role in achieving food security.”
Zvishavane Prison Farm’s remarkable achievements have not only caught the attention of ZPCS leadership but have also inspired a renewed sense of purpose and optimism within the correctional service.
