Impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture-Zimbabwe

_{By: Hwande Sheunesu,Gokwe Nembudziya ,Zimbawe}

“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don’t do anything about it“(Albert Enstein).  Zimbabwe’s Agricultural sector is one of the industries greatly affected by HIV/AIDS therefore it is every citizen’s duty to play a role in reducing the impacts of AIDS in agriculture. For a developing agro -based economy like Zimbabwe where the majority is employed in Agriculture it is of Paramount importance to have double emphasis to the issue of HIV/AIDS.

 A close look at commercial and estate farm set ups concludes that the rate of HIV spreading is very high in the mentioned places due to the following factors: poverty, early marriages, incidence of rape cases, ignorance coupled with lack of knowledge.

The pandemic has claimed lives of some key players with the agricultural growth and development Agenda.  We are losing the trained personnel day in and day out .Once productive farms owned by those who succumbed to the ravages of AIDS are now lying idle. Some died leaving their firms or farms in the hands of their relatives and children who then went on to vandalize the properties instead of picking it up from where it was left.

Some producers had reduced their production levels owing to the pandemic because they cannot work like what they used to do before. Agriculture lost its trained personnel especially before the introduction of the Anti -retroviral drug (ARV). To some extent the HIV infected are being discriminated and stigmatized in the social spheres resulting in them losing equal participation towards agricultural growth?

I have seen infected individuals losing institutional memories at their work places and their efficiency at work will permanently be reduced, some may spend most of their time absent at work while in the hospitals or at home seeking for medication. HIV may result in single headed families which cause difficulties in decision making then low production. Money meant for Agricultural development is being channeled towards HIV /AIDS in procuring drugs on the efforts to contain the disease.

However Agriculture is playing a vital role in supplying good food for HIV patience especially to those with special dietary needs. Agro-processing and value addition to food crops like vegetables , ground nuts has increased  due to the zeal to produce food in different forms for the benefit of the patients. YOUR HEALTH IS YOUR FUTURE. Special thanks to the second republic for the extension of the AGRIMED which is aimed at improving farmer’s health by ensuring easy access to medication for every farmer. The NGOs together with the department of agricultural research are working tirelessly in the improvement of the quality of agricultural products. We have seen and heard about it, the GMOs they are coming in with the products with high protein value, good taste, reduced production cycle to meet the demands of the consumers.

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