Elizabeth Mpofu

Elizabeth Mpofu (born 1959) is a small-scale organic farmer, writer and activist based in Zimbabwe. She is General Coordinator of Via Campesina and in 2016 was Special Ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for the International Year of Pulses. She is also founder and chairperson of ZIMSOFF (Zimbabwe Smallholder Organic Farmers Forum).

Early life

Elizabeth Mpofu was born in 1959. She has three children and nine grandchildren.[1]

Mpofu is a small-scale organic farmer based in Masvingo Province in Zimbabwe.[2] She has her 10 hectare farm as a result of a land reform programme begun in 2000.[3] She grows maize, legumes and other beans.[4]

Activism

Mpofu became a member of the Association of Zimbabwe Traditional Environmental Conservationists in 1982.[5] She later became a founding member and then chairperson of ZIMSOFF (Zimbabwe Smallholder Organic Farmers Forum). In 2016, she was appointed Special Ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for the International Year of Pulses.[1]

Mpofu is currently (2020) General Coordinator of Via Campesina, a global organisation representing the rights of 200 million peasants.[6] Mpofu became coordinator in 2013 and campaigns on issues such as gaining access to land and eradicating violence against women.[5]

The United Nations Human Rights Council passed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas in 2018, following a proposal first made by Via Campesina in 2008. Mpofu commented "This has been a long tough path but as peasants, as people who have seen the worst of poverty and neglect, we are tough too and we never give up".[7] The declaration was then approved by the United Nations General Assembly later in the year.[8]

Selected works
  • Elizabeth Mpofu (2016) 'Women farm through knowledge sharing' in Farming Matters.[9]
  • Elizabeth Mpofu & Ndabezinhle Nyoni (2017) 'Role of pulses and smallholders in the transformation of Africa's agriculture' in Nature & Faune.[10]

See also

References
  1. Davies, Sara (31 December 2016). "Elizabeth Mpofu, Africa's Pulse Ambassador". Naturally Zimbabwean. Archived from the original on 10 August 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  2. "20 Heroines Revolutionizing Food Activism". Food Tank. 5 March 2020. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  3. L. Biron, Carey (18 December 2019). "Global recognition 'opens doors' for peasant groups, right to land". news.trust.org. Thomson Reuters. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  4. Bafana, Busani (16 October 2016). "The Beating Pulse of Food Security in Africa". www.ipsnews.net. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  5. "Women are the Ones Who Take Care of Mother Earth". Radio Mundo Real. 12 July 2013. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  6. "Elizabeth Mpofu". EAT. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  7. "UN Human Rights Council passes a resolution adopting the peasant rights declaration in Geneva". www.cadtm.org. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  8. A. Wise, Timothy (24 January 2019). "UN Backs Seed Sovereignty in Landmark Peasants' Rights Declaration". Resilience. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  9. Mpofu, Elizabeth (23 March 2016). "Women farm through knowledge sharing". Farming Matters. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  10. Mpofu, Elizabeth; Nyoni, Ndabezinhle. "Role of pulses and smallholders in the transformation of Africa's agriculture". Nature & Faune. 31 (1). ISSN 2026-5611.
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