Online Reporter
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Matabeleland South Bureau
THE Government is working closely with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to capacitate smallholder farmers and unlock their value chain linkages to boost production and supply for improved business gains.
The initiative is being implemented under the Climate Resilient Livelihoods (CRL) Project, being supported by the Government of Zimbabwe, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Speaking during a market dialogue meeting on Thursday at Esigodini Agricultural College CRL project’s climate smart agriculture expert, Dr Nelson Chanza, said creating market linkages is part of efforts to support agricultural activities being undertaken by farmers.
The market dialogue meetings, which are being conducted across five research institutions seek to catalyse direct and practical linkages between smallholder producers and the private sector.
Officials from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, farmers, seeds houses, finance institutions, research institutions and private players attended the meeting.
“The Climate Resilient Livelihoods project was initiated by barriers faced by farmers in the agricultural sector as a result of climate change. The project came in to climate proof activities of farmers through development of water infrastructure, to provide value chain knowledge and ensure access to climate weather and hydraulic services,” said Dr Chanza.
“This exercise, which we have undertaken seeks to promote linkages. Irrigation schemes have been capacitated and farmers have received the necessary equipment and resources for them to operate.
“Now we are saying farmers should move from subsistence to commercial level of production. In order to do this farmers must identify value chain actors. They must know who can supply inputs, who can support production and who can they supply.”
Dr Chanza said the dialogue meetings will create linkages among selected value chain actors for business engagements on input supply, production and off-take agreements.
They will also create a platform for all value chain actors to meet and discuss potential partnership agreements.
Dr Chanza said the dialogue meetings must lead to increased participation of private sector players in the scale up of the prioritised value chains.
“We also wish to see partnerships established among producer representatives with input, output markets and financial service providers. This is a chance for public-private partnerships to be established between the private sector and implementing partners, fostering an inclusive business and profit driven approach to service provision,” he said.
The Climate Resilient Livelihoods programme seeks to address barriers such as limited institutional support capacities and technical knowledge for farmers to adapt their production practices to climate-driven drought and mid-season dry spells.
It also seeks to address inadequate financial and technical capacity for climate-proofed irrigation investments and ensure sufficient and reliable water resources for crop irrigation to cope with rainfall variability and limited access to knowledge, markets and value-chains to shift away from subsistence to climate-resilient agricultural livelihoods.
It will also facilitate generation and dissemination of appropriate climate and weather information to smallholder farmers for climate-risk informed water and agricultural management.
The IP dialogues, which are being conducted in research institutions, aim to promote inclusive, structured market systems by connecting climate-resilient smallholder farmers with input suppliers, commodity buyers, financial institutions and service providers.
The interactions are expected to unlock opportunities for contract farming, aggregation, input supply agreements, and public-private partnerships.
“The dialogues will offer a rare and strategic opportunity for smallholder farmers in southern Zimbabwe to directly engage with private sector actors, something traditionally beyond the reach of many rural producers.
“They will allow farmers to negotiate better prices, explore market opportunities, and engage in production agreements that support climate-smart, market-led agriculture,” said Mr Rungano Benza, CRL project manager in a statement.
The dialogue meetings are targeting Chisumbanje Research Station, Chiredzi Research Station and Makoholi Research Station, Esigodini Agricultural College and Matopos Research Institute.
The institutions are serving as innovation platforms under the Climate Resilient Livelihoods project.
In a statement Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Deputy Director for Markets and Trade in the Business Development, Markets and Trade Directorate, Mr Simba Mupodyi, said these dialogue platforms and engagements present immense opportunities for smallholder farmers, the private sector and Government to co-create market-based solutions. He said such collaborations are expected to foster strong partnerships capable of transforming subsistence farming into a more commercially-oriented model.
@DubeMatutu
