Full title of the project: Building Resilience of Smallholders by Increasing Small Grains Production and Productivity in Zimbabwe
Target areas: Chiredzi, Mount Darwin, Mwenezi and Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe (UMP) districts.
Recipient: ZimbabweDonor:Pooled Fund
Contribution: USD 329 610
24/12/2018-30/06/2019
Project code: OSRO/ZIM/803/WFP
Objective: To improve the food security and nutrition of smallholder farmers through small grain production.
Key partners:Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement.
Beneficiaries reached: 4 950 drought-affected smallholder farmers and 72 Department of Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services (AGRITEX) staff.
Activities implemented:
Trained 72 ward-based AGRITEX extension staff, of whom 20 were women, on good agricultural practices (GAPs) and market linkages focusing on small grain production and marketing. These extension officers then trained 450 lead farmers through the training of trainers (ToT) approach, who rolled-out training to ten farmers each, totalling 4 500 mentored farmers.
Distributed 13.75 tonnes of sorghum seed and 6.87 tonnes of cowpea seed to 2 750 (lead and mentored) farmers in Chiredzi and Mwenezi.
Procured 275 tonnes of topdressing fertilizer to be delivered in the coming agricultural season.
Conducted 15 field days (one per ward) in Chiredzi, Mount Darwin, Mwenezi and UMP to provide the wider community with an opportunity to gain knowledge, together with project beneficiaries, on the agronomy of small grains
Impact:
Enhanced the knowledge and capacity of extension workers and farmers on GAPs, including conservation agriculture, and marketing.
Improved the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices and small grain production and increased beneficiaries’ linkages to markets.