From Plant to Plate
Empowering local farmers to feed their fellow citizens during a drought
The beginning of the year usually marks the height of the rainy season in Zimbabwe. When maize stalks shadow the pumpkins from the heat of the summer sun. From rural homes to houses in townships, it is normal to see people harvesting maize, watermelons, pumpkins, and sorghum.
In Zimbabwe, farmers are typically already in the fields when dawn breaks. After slashing maize stalks from the harvested corn, young people collect the juicy corn cobs — their hands splashed with the sweet dots of juice. Later that morning at school, the children will sneak their little hands into old ice-cream containers (isikafutini or chikafutini) during lessons, curious to have a taste of the steaming corn and bread their mothers baked from ground sorghum.
Not this year.
This year, Zimbabwe is experiencing the El Niño-induced drought. Water is scarce, crop and livestock production has plummeted, and inflation has worsened, increasing the cost of food.
According to the 2023 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment, more than 2.7 million people from rural areas who rely on subsistence farming did not have enough food between January and March 2024. Farmers have experienced an unusual shift in the rainy season, resulting in severe dry spells and sun-scorched crops.
Most rural households have nothing to harvest and put on the table. The drought, coupled with the economic challenges, has made life even more difficult for ordinary Zimbabweans.
However, with the World Food Program and the private sector, USAID is mitigating the hardships of the drought. This partnership helped Zimbabweans access basic food items such as cereals and vegetable oil fortified with vitamins A and D during the lean season. Importantly, much of the food distributed is from USAID-supported smallholder farmers in surplus producing areas.
Zimbabweans feeding Zimbabweans.
In the eastern and southeastern parts of Zimbabwe, thousands of smallholder farmers dig two inches into the fertile soil to plant sunflower seeds. Farmers grow the sunflower seeds under dryland conditions due to its drought tolerance and deep root system. After 140 days, the sunflower seeds are ready for harvest and processing into a golden liquid in demand in almost every home.
It is these farmers that USAID works with to ensure that Zimbabweans needing food assistance receive their complete food basket that includes vegetable oil, cereal, and pulses.
These smallholder farmers grow the cheery and bright sunflower in the Manicaland and Masvingo provinces. Their sunflower makes its way to local private sector companies like ZimGold, which turn it into cooking oil. USAID worked with ZimGold to provide a market for smallholder farmers participating in the USAID Feed the Future Initiative, which has been operating in the country for more than 10 years.
In 2023 alone, USAID linked over 35,000 smallholder farmers to affordable loans and viable markets for their produce.
During this lean season, WFP purchased vegetable oil from ZimGold and distributed it to 230,000 rural Zimbabweans facing hunger.
A humble grain to sustain humanity.
At the crack of dawn, farmers wake up and pack their sorghum into 50 kilogram sacks, ready for collection. This year, local company Peak Trading bought 250 metric tons of sorghum from farmers.
It’s a good day: these farmers are happy to have extra money to purchase food and basic commodities, and to send their children to school.
Peak Trading transports this sorghum to three warehouses in Bulawayo, Harare, and Masvingo where it is readied for distribution. Grains are an important staple. The food assistance packages include white sorghum, which families bake into bread or cook as porridge for school children.
Food commodities are not only sourced from farmers who have participated in USAID-supported projects but also from other local Zimbabwean farmers and businesses that are linked to USAID partners. USAID bought the white sorghum from Peak Trading, which in turn bought the grain from small farmers who participated in the World Food Program-funded R4 Rural Resilience Initiative, extending the USAID localization values.
USAID Zimbabwe Mission Director Janean Davis, said, “linking farmers to local markets is integral to increasing their production and improving their livelihoods. We are very pleased that the World Food Program sourced some of this year’s commodities from local companies, who in turn, sourced the produce from smallholder farmers.”
Erina Machoko, USAID/Zimbabwe Food Security and Livelihoods Specialist added that, “USAID is being intentional when procuring the required food commodities for the lean season assistance program. We make sure we look for locally produced commodities before we import them from other sources. USAID is complementing some of its activities by sourcing from local smallholder farmers and businesses it already supports.”
Of the $11.27 million USAID provided for the 2023–2024 lean season in Zimbabwe, partners spent over $1.27 million to procure some of the food commodities locally.
The sunflower oil and sorghum make their way into vulnerable people’s plates.
Zimbabwe declared the 2023–24 agricultural season a national disaster and millions of its citizens are facing hunger.
Patricia Vudhanga is a mother of two and is from Chivi in southeastern Zimbabwe. “I am primarily a laborer,” she explains. “I work for people and get paid in the form of food. I do everything to survive. The rains aren’t predictable, and it is always dry, and this means we don’t have food to eat. This food means growth for my children … . It is more than just food.”
Christine Tota, also from Chivi, is 80 years old. She explains: “… I stay with my grandchildren. I am living with a disability; I cannot work for myself. I broke my hand in 2018, and as a smallholder farmer that was the end of my livelihood.
“This support we receive today means we have a lifeline. It makes me feel relieved as it comes at the right time. I have gone to bed with an empty stomach, and I know what that means.”
USAID worked with farmers, the private sector, and WFP to provide a healthy food basket to more than 230,000 Zimbabweans between January and March 2024. This included vulnerable rural communities, widowed women, people with disabilities, expecting mothers, and women-headed households in rural areas.
About the Author
Rabhelani Mguni is a Development Outreach and Communications intern at USAID’s Mission in Zimbabwe.
