Last month Dr Dorah Mwenye presented her paper titled Renewable Energy and Mechanisation in The Smallholder Sector: Experiences from Wedza E-Mobility Pilot Study at the Biennial Africa CSA stakeholder Conference as part of the Science and Partnership for Agriculture Conference (SPAC).
Dr Dorah has led Mobility for Africa’s research into last and first-mile mobility. Her paper focused on our pilot project in Wedza, Zimbabwe and purposefully targeted 90 women intending to evaluate the use of the Hamba. Taken from the abstract of her paper, she wrote:
“Transport as a challenge to agriculture and along agricultural value chains is often muted in development projects, despite the fact that one of the identified factors that have a potential to accelerate mechanisation in the smallholder sector…is transport.”
“The burden of manual work and reduced rural mobility is borne disproportionately by women farmers...[who] have some of the most diverse transit needs” with both productive and reproductive work.
Dr Dorah Mwenye in action conducting interviews for data collection in Chipinge in August 2022
Using a mixed-method research approach with both qualitative and quantitative data collected through surveys and case studies, the following are some of the conclusions:
The Hamba is a multipurpose technology
o 67% of use towards productive activities (agriculture, hoarding and selling, transport services)
o And 33% to reproductive (fetching water, visiting healthcare clinics, taking children to school)The potential for e- mobility in reducing climate-related challenges is high: For resilient livelihoods, agriculturalists need to think outside the box and propose inclusive policies to tackle as many SDGs as possible using appropriate and sustainable technologies.
Policies on mechanisation should focus on customer hire services and demand creation and provide an enabling environment in the battery and energy sector
New technology to be introduced systematically, step by step, from transport to solar-powered implements such as processing and irrigation equipment that do not depend on fossil fuels.
Dr Dorah’s work is vital for progress marking and learning about development in this space. See her action in MFA activities below.
#Mechanisation #womenfarmers #renewableenergy #ruralmobility #emobility