Private Sector Partnerships Yield Award-Winning Outcomes
How over 58,000 rural Zimbabwean farmers transformed from subsistence to smallholder commercial farmers
Decades of failed economic and agricultural policies, corruption, and consecutive poor agricultural seasons due to climate change make Zimbabwe’s agricultural landscape bleak. However, the Feed the Future Crop Development (FTFZ-CD) activity, through USAID, worked to create life-changing opportunities for subsistence farmers. Learn how their lives — and livelihoods — have been transformed.
Claudius Musiyiwa proudly gives a tour of his farm in Gokwe South, a drought-prone region of Zimbabwe. He shows off the home still under construction. So far, he has completed buildings for a kitchen and toilet. None of this would have been possible without Feed the Future.
In 2015, USAID/Zimbabwe embarked on a five-year partnership with the Zimbabwean organization Linkages for Economic Advancement of the Disadvantaged (LEAD) Trust to improve rural livelihoods, including ensuring equal access for women and young people, by increasing incomes and improving food security, nutrition, and hygiene practices through hands-on agricultural training, technical assistance, and farming as a family business.
Nearly half of the world’s farmers do not have access to finance through banks and Zimbabwe is no exception.
The activity focused on a commercial segment of smallholder farmers because without access to agriculture loans and critical training, these farmers could not improve the quality of and increase their crop production.
In 2016, Claudius and his wife Hwinhai participated in the LEAD Trust training which focused on adopting better methods for improving crop yields, pest management, and financial management and bankability. The training assisted them to receive their first loan from a local bank to purchase inputs such as seed and fertilizer and improve their access to the formal market to sell their maize at a more competitive price.
Before their participation in the activity, Claudius and Hwinhai typically produced 1.5 tons per hectare of maize. Due to the technical assistance, access to better seeds, and application of fertilizer, their crop production increased to 6.1 tons per hectare over the course of two years.
With the increased income Claudius said, “We’re upgrading our buildings and bought four cattle. Before the activity, the family struggled to put food on the table. Although Feed the Future has weaned us off (the activity), I can say we’ve been transformed. We still sustain the activities since we’ve been equipped with knowledge and skills to manage our enterprises.”
Elevating women and empowering youth
Fortunate Matabuke was a subsistence farmer until the financial skills she gained from the training — and acquiring access to water — helped her turn a profit on her small tomato crop. She boosted her income enough to begin investing in building a new home.
“I learned that it is cheaper to buy inputs in groups. I was also able to access finances through a community lending and savings scheme,” says Fortunate, one of a growing number of women who are upending Zimbabwe’s tradition of having men make key decisions in the household.
At the beginning of the activity, just over 10,000 women farmers participated. Five years later, that number grew to 32,232, and accounted for 55% of the total smallholder farmers. Women in significant elected leadership roles such as chairperson, vice chairperson, secretary, and treasurer of farmer producer groups and marketing committees rose from 25% of the total beneficiary farmers to 62%.
Like women, young people age 35 and under were also slow to envision the benefits of the project. Just 181 youth signed on at first. However, with nearly 68% of Zimbabwe’s population under the age of 35, and agriculture providing income for up to 70% of the population, young farmers are essential to the country’s economy.
And participation numbers picked up to nearly 10,000 by the program’s end. Twenty-nine-year-old Thomas Shoniwa grows enough produce for his family and sells the surplus for income. With his savings he purchased a solar system for his home. “I have learned how to grow different crops by irrigating, such as tomatoes, cabbages, and onions. I encourage other youth my age to venture into farming, and desist from theft and drug abuse.”
Managing changing climate conditions
The project provided Never Nganwa with a drip irrigation kit for his demonstration plot, which has allowed him to show other farmers a sustainable method to manage climate change conditions.
In 2020, “the rains didn’t start when expected,” he explained. “We got less rain in the first week of January and then not a drop for the next three weeks.” For several years, infrequent rainfall has impacted Sanyati district where Never lives and where farmers depend on the annual rain.
With the drip system, farmers do not need to depend on rain. The technology pumps water from boreholes into storage tanks. Just enough water drips to the roots, preventing water runoff and minimizing evaporation. It is 40% more efficient than gravity irrigation.
The drip system allows Never to grow a variety of vegetables year-round. “In 2020, I more than doubled my income to $3,600 from cabbage and tomato sales alone — up from $1,500,” said Never, who now uses his demonstration plot to train other farmers on drip irrigation technology.
Old Mutual — a pan-African investment, savings, insurance, and banking group — also worked through the project to develop a weather index-based insurance product.
Loans and weather index-based insurance provide farmers with access to finance inputs such as seeds and fertilizer, with a financial safety net from drought or excess rainfall. An additional 34 private sector companies and lending institutions invested nearly $1.4 million into irrigation for farmers who grew maize, groundnuts, tomatoes, and sugar beans.
Award-winning partnerships
In December 2020, Old Mutual awarded LEAD Trust the 2020 Africa Partnership Award for its work with USAID and the Zimbabwe farmers. The award recognized the partnerships and relationships that transformed the socio-economic conditions of communities, and the $25,000 prize money was invested back into the project to continue mentoring 1,000 former beneficiaries.
Smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe have “changed their behaviors and attitudes toward farming. It’s now farming as a business, for commercial production,” says Godfrey Mudimu, LEAD Trust director.
In 2015, LEAD Trust began with the goal to improve livelihoods for 25,800 rural smallholder farmers. However, 58,604 farmers ultimately benefited and recorded $46 million in crop sales. Irrigation site farmers’ annual income increased from $232 in 2015 to $1,855 in 2020, and dryland farmers’ incomes increased from $195 to $426.
About the Author
Jennifer Curle is the Development and Outreach Communications Advisor for USAID’s Mission in Zimbabwe.
