From IRIN News

Girazi Mukumba, 64, a communal farmer in Wedza, about 160km southwest of the capital Harare, is old school when it comes to agricultural practices.

On his three-hectare plot he uses cow dung manure on his maize, local herbs to treat his cattle, and believes the benefits of chemical fertilizers are a “white man’s myth.”

Repeated crop failures during successive dry spells and drought have ravaged his production and he wants to branch out, like his neighbours, into poultry or piggery to help sustain the four grandchildren he cares for – but he is deemed too old by community-based organizations to merit assistance.

Mukumba does not understand why he is routinely bypassed by officers from the Agriculture Ministry’s extension services and NGOs who sporadically visit his village to offer advice on farming techniques.

“Even these young men and women who have been told why there are so many droughts these days have no time to explain these things to old people like me. They say I am too old and therefore cannot understand a thing,” Mukumba told IRIN.

Mukumba and his 56-year-old wife care for their late daughter’s three children and a grandchild from their son, who works as an agricultural labourer in neighbouring Botswana and occasionally remits small amounts of money.

Agricultural and food production experts say elderly people still contribute significantly to household food security through farming, but are limited by their exclusion from mainstream support programmes, such as those promoting climate change adaption techniques.

Read more at IRIN News