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Elita Chikwati Senior Agriculture Reporter
The World Food Programme yesterday received more than 6 000 tonnes of traditional grains inputs from the India-UN Development Partnership Fund to build resilience among smallholder farmers in Mangwe and Chiredzi districts.
The inputs, comprising sorghum and African peas seed, basal and top dressing fertilisers, will be distributed to 3 484 farmers from Mangwe and 2 602 in Chiredzi.
Indian ambassador, Mr Shri Vijay Khanduja, said his country contributed US$1 million through the India UN development partnership fund for climate resilient agriculture in Chiredzi and Mangwe districts, which is expected to benefit 6 000 farmers.
“I am happy to see the project roll out in less than a year,” he said. “Once they are happy and prosperous the consumers of grains can remain happy. We all want to see farmers happy and prosperous. We have a challenge of climate change and once we give some alternative solutions, we actually aid in its mitigation.
“India give US$150 million in 2017 spread over five years to help achieve projects which are compliant with the sustainable development goals.”
Ambassador Khanduja said India and Zimbabwe shared a special relationship of mutual trust and friendship.
“Our two countries go a long way not just political and economic relationship, but also in developmental co-operation and people-to-people contacts involving help, education, energy and a number of sectors,” he said.
Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development director for Agritex, Mr Stancilae Tapererwa said the donation by India came at the right when Government was promoting climate smart agricultural practices for improved household food and nutrition security through the Pfumvudza Intwasa Presidential Inputs Scheme.
“We are grateful for the support WFP and other development partners are offering to our farmers,” he said.
“The inputs we are receiving today from India as support to our extension programmes for vulnerable households is one of the support our Government cherishes from development partner countries such as India through the UN support to the WFP.
“We are supporting production of traditional grains. At first a number of farmers were hesitant to grow traditional grains because they are difficult top process. Traditional grains are highly nutritious.”
WFP representative and country director, Ms Francesca Erderlmann said this year they had empowered smallholder farmers in rural areas to better prepare for climate related events such as recurring droughts reaching 6 500 people across Chiredzi and Mangwe.
“In Zimbabwe, smallholder farmers have been affected by food insecurity over the past years,” she said. “Many people in rural areas particularly women, make up a very significant proportion of the agricultural sector.
“We supported these vulnerable people during the critical time, barely recovering from prolonged years of drought, unpredictable weather patterns and then compounding impacts of Covid-19 and limited livelihood opportunities.”
Ms Erderlmann said the WFP supported its partners through implementation, logistics and monitoring of the programme, helping to distribute drought tolerant traditional grains and other inputs through established programmes.
“The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has provided strong expertise through technical transfer of knowledge to smallholder farmers, to ensure better agricultural practices are adopted, such as post- harvest loss management,” she said.
“Agritex has supported lead farmers with trainings and skills building from the outset of the programme.”
Online Reporter