LFSP Project IPVC Project SCALE AP Project BEST Project ERVHIZ Project REOPENS Project ILUEMP ZAKIS
Successful Project
THE LIVELIHOODS AND FOOD SECURITY PROGRAMME
LFSP was funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) through the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Palladium. It was implemented in Makoni, Mutare and Mutasa districts by a Consortium led by Practical Action, with SAT and ICRISAT as co-implementing partners, between December 2014 and May 2021. SAT was responsible for the agriculture production and productivity component as well as direct implementation in Mutare district. The programme’s main thrust was to tackle the root causes of food insecurity and poverty in rural areas which are related to agricultural productivity, market access and food security and consumption. LFSP aimed at improving food, nutrition and income security and access to markets amongst 83,310 rural farming households (63% headed by females). These objectives were achieved by raising smallholder farm productivity through promoting improved and climate appropriate agricultural practices, increasing access by smallholder farmers and their value chain actors to rural finance, fostering innovative ways of linking farmer groups and commercial markets, stimulating production and consumption of safe and nutritious food, including bio-fortification, generating and communicating evidence to influence policy and private sector investments and mainstreaming gender.
Project Successes
Project Success
- Improved food and nutrition security due to (i) increased productivity was achieved mainly due to the Pfumvudza concept which was successfully piloted by the programme and managed to influence wider adoption in the country, and (ii) increased production and consumption of diverse and nutritious foods (including bio-fortified maize and sugar beans) from own production or purchased from increased incomes from agricultural production. . The application of safe post harvesting technologies to ensure all year-round access to food enabled farmers to cope despite poor agricultural performance in some instances resulting in only 7.8% of households reported to be food insecure by the end of the program.
Community Gardens
330 community nutrition gardens and 4 solar powered nutrition gardens were established and capacitated to produce diverse horticultural vegetables and seedlings at community levels. This played a pivotal role in improving farmer households and schools to diversified vegetables.
Crop and Livestock Technology
60% and 43% of targeted households were practicing crop and livestock technologies introduced by the program respectively against targets of 70% and 40% respectively.
Aflatoxin Management
46% of targeted households were practising aflatoxin management technologies against a target of 50%.
CRISIS MODIFIER
Through the Crisis Modifier, the programme supported the rehabilitation of 19 boreholes which are now benefiting humans and livestock at household level, rural health centres and community gardens.
Internal Savings and Lending Groups
Cumulatively 1,926 Internal Savings and Lending groups (ISALs) with a membership of 12,170 (78% female) were supported by the programme and these groups managed to continue operations during turbulent economic periods. Mature ISAL groups graduated to form 21 Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) across the three districts and two SACCOs District Unions in Mutare and Makoni districts. Mature ISAL groups and SACCOS also graduated to form Farmer Group Enterprises (FGEs). Access to rural finance steadily increased to 36 % of farmers who applied for loans being successfully granted. Community Based Microfinance Institutions (CBMFI) played a key role in value chain financing and at least 43% of groups financed inputs.
Farmer Association
33 farmer associations and 3 apex bodies were formed and strengthened to service their members
Yield
Average maize yields of 7.8t/ha for farmers applying the full Pfumvudza package were achieved.
Delivery System
A sustainable community-based extension service delivery system was established where 908 Community Based Facilitators (CBF) became the pivotal link between farmers and public and private extension agencies.
Gender Champions
The program was instrumental in setting up a pool and network of 1,268 community-based Gender Champions and support was also extended to 6,249 youths with the programme being instrumental in establishing 4 youth centres of excellence and Gender learning hubs. The program capacitated 5,366 lead mothers and 1,121 village workers as health promoters to facilitate the formation of 1,121 care groups and 4,488 neighbour women groups. Resultantly 64% of eligible women of childbearing age were reached with nutrition behaviours to influence their production and consumption practices.
Project Gallery
Successful project
The Inclusive Poultry Value Chain (IPVC) Project
The IPVC project was funded by the European Union (EU) from 1st February 2019 to 30th September 2022. IPVC was one of the six projects under the Zimbabwe Agricultural Growth Programme (ZAGP). The overarching objective was to promote an efficient poultry value chain at three levels: social, economic and environment. Project implementation was done in a consortium arrangement led by COPSE onlus, with Sustainable Agriculture Technology (SAT) responsible for direct implementation in Harare and Mutare Clusters covering eight districts.
The thrust of the project was to increase the productivity and profitability of the Small to Medium Producers (SMPs) of poultry through the adoption of robust cost reduction strategies and collective action initiatives. In this regard, the project specifically sought to address constraints faced by SMPs of being fragmented and hence faced inefficiencies in their production cycles due to high landed costs of inputs and unstable output markets. Through collective action, farmers benefited from economies of scale as they aggregated their demand, thereby enabling them to bargain for discounted raw materials particularly poultry feeds, which are the major cost drivers constituting 75% of the total production costs. This was further buttressed by the formation of Poultry Business Associations (PBAs) through which a revolving fund facility was injected to initiate discounted bulk orders for SMPs – this was the real game-changer! The PBAs were then capacitated and developed into fully registered cooperative companies that are in existence to this date.
In the Harare and Mutare Clusters, the project reached out to 1,289 direct beneficiaries fully paid up with the two PBAs formed in SAT’s two clusters. At least 67% of the members were females. In addition, the project had 2,997 registered farmer members (not subscribed to the PBAs) with 68.74% being females. Meanwhile, key interventions supported through the project, in line with the revised strategy, included bulk buying, promotion of on-farm feed formulations, technical and institutional development trainings as well as improved access to financial resources. In the two years of operations, the established business units traded an estimated 2,058 tonnes of poultry feeds and 295,532 broiler day old chicks, translating to about US$1, 406, 771 from an initial capital injection of US$36 000 in the revolving fund facility. This excludes other minor business lines pursued by the PBAs.
Project Lessons
The key lessons learnt from the implementation of the
IPVC project are as follows:
Gross Domestic Product
Given ideal conditions, small holder farmers are capable of significantly contributing to the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Currently, they produce about 60% of poultry products consumed on the market.
Business Driven Models
Business-driven models are key in community development interventions due to their high chances of addressing the needs of communities in general, and their sustainability.
Delivery System
Any meaningful interventions, objectively, intended to benefit the target beneficiaries should be preceded buy a comprehensive needs assessment.
Successful project
Strengthening Community Action and Law Enforcement Against Poaching (SCALE AP)
The USAID-funded SCALE AP project was implemented by SAT in partnership with the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust (GCT) and Tikki Hywood Foundation (THF) between 1st July 2017 and 30th June 2022. This initiative sought to combat international wildlife trafficking (IWT) and poaching in and around the Gonarezhou National Park (GNP) and the South-East Lowveld of Zimbabwe. It also provided incentives to local communities for them to become active conservation partners in the fight against IWT and poaching.
Project Successes
Project Success
Land Improvement
645,000 hectares of biologically significant areas were under improved natural resources management (NRM)
Scouting Partnerships
3 community scouting partnerships were established, and 36 scouts successfully recruited, trained, and deployed
Improved Economic Benefits
9,143 people (56% female) from around GNP were deriving improved economic benefits from sustainable NRM
Elephant Density
Elephant density improved from 4 to 2.2 per square km due to improved conservation and law enforcement
Education
4,718 children (56% female) reached with environmental education in schools around Gonarezhou National Park
Community Service Center
2 community conservation areas adjacent to Gonarezhou National Park were established at Jamanda & Malipati
Black Rhino Re-Introduction
29 black rhino re-introduced into GNP for first time since 1960 due to improved conservation & law enforcement
Direct Benefits
US$1,317,205 was paid out as direct benefits to communities living within a 15-kilometer radius from the GNP
Decrease in Poaching
Decrease of at least 94% from baseline in poaching incidences for species of IWT importance, including elephants
Community Training
3,734 community members (52% female) reached with training on Human Wildlife Conflict mitigation
Successful project
Beef Enterprise Strengthening and Transformation (BEST) Project
The BEST project covers 10 districts in Zimbabwe, and seeks to enable at least 10,000 small to medium scale beef producers to derive improved benefits through a series of interventions that address identified bottlenecks in the beef value chain. SAT is responsible for project implementation in four of the project districts – Lupane, Umguza, Chiredzi and Mwenezi. SAT is part of a Consortium led by World Vision Zimbabwe, and has mobilised the private sector in order to improve access to a wide range of services that include, among others: inputs, training and extension, finance, improved breeds, veterinary supplies, offtake markets, and improved access to stockfeed and pastures. Cattle Business Centres (CBCs), established with private sector support, are helping deliver these beef value chain services to farmers. At Lapache and Balu in Mwenezi and Umguza respectively, SAT has also established 50 hectares of irrigated pastures in each site and these have helped reduce livestock poverty deaths, improve calving rates and increase the size of the carcass, thereby translating into improved economic returns for beef producers.
Enhancing the Resilience of Vulnerable Households in Zimbabwe (ERVHIZ) Project
Since November 2021, SAT has been implementing the ERVHIZ project in six districts in Matabeleland South – Beitbridge, Bulilima, Gwanda, Insiza, Matobo and Mangwe. ERVHIZ targets 88,000 rural households in vulnerable situations in the face of economic and climate induced shocks and stresses. The project seeks to increase the resilience of these households to food crises and climate change by increasing sustainable crop and livestock production through low-input agroecological production practices, improved post-harvest management techniques and improved rangeland management. SAT aims to achieve this through the farmer field school (FFS) and the lead farmer approaches, and by working closely with the Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services (ARDAS) Directorate
Successful Project
Reviving the Exports of Oranges and Paprika and Exploring the Niche of Saffron (REOPENS) Project
REOPENS PROJECT
The REOPENS project (February 2020 to July 2023) is part of a broader programme between the EU and the Government of Zimbabwe – the Zimbabwe Economic Partnership Agreement (ZEPA), which seeks to promote exports into the EU by small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and smallholder farmers. Cesvi, an Italian international NGO, heads the REOPENS Consortium and is responsible for project implementation in Beitbridge and Mwenezi districts, while SAT spearheads implementation in Makoni and Bulilima districts. In the last two seasons, the number of smallholder paprika growers reached by SAT in Makoni district has increased from 452 farmers on 112 hectares in season one to at least 1,300 farmers on 450 hectares in season two. SAT provides training to farmers on paprika nursery establishment and management, field management of paprika and post-harvest management. SAT provides the farmers with paprika seed and linkages to offtake markets abroad, which has made it possible for growers to earn foreign currency. Farmers receive training through demonstration plots, Lead Farmers and local ARDAS Field Officers. The REOPENS project also provides technical support, training and grants to 4 Business Service Organisations (BSOs) – Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), Horticulture Development Council (HDC), Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) and ZIMTRADE – in order to improve their service delivery to SMEs and smallholder farmers.
Zimbabwe Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Services (ZAKIS) Project
Since August 2018, SAT has been part of a WHH-led Consortium that seeks to transform knowledge and innovation services to contribute to the development of a diversified and efficient agricultural sector that promotes inclusive green economic growth. This EU-funded initiative, which is a component of the ZAGP, has established Agricultural Centres of Excellence (ACE) at Chibero Agricultural College and Matopos Research Station. The project is also building capacity in the Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services (ARDAS) Directorate and the Department of Research and Specialist Services (DRSS). It will also contribute to the development and implementation of a functional and integrated institutional framework that brings together agriculture research, education and extension services.