Shashe Agroecology School

The Shashe Agroecology School refers to an area of 184ha block that is developing to an endogenous development learning center. It is an initiative of 12 landless farmers in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe who were allocated land during the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) Land Reform Program. The farming families are developed their plots to what is dubbed “centers of excellence” with good practices of water harvesting, manure making, agro forestry, crop and livestock diversification and production of diverse food that includes small grains (millet, rapoko, sorghum), pulses (round nuts, beans, cow peas) and oils (ground nuts, sesame and sunflower).

1. The Shashe Agroecology School is a farmer led initiative demonstrating local innovations to save our heritage. We are developing the Shashe Agroecology School to voice our concerns on land use practices and food production. Thus to realize our plight, we resolved to convert our family plots to centers of excellence so as to showcase alternative ecologically sound food production method that will enhance our strength in unity to enable the society to feed on diverse healthy and nutritious foods whilst nurturing Mother Earth.

The centers of excellence are developing living demonstration tools to promote farmer to farmer training and exchange of experiences imparting knowledge and skills vertically and horizontally, along the process disseminating agroecological and sustainable smallholder agricultural practices as local solution to climate crisis. We aim to reduce degradation of our own environment and its natural resources to the detriment of ourselves and the posterity.