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Elton Manguwo
THE Smallholder Agriculture Cluster Project (SACP) has commenced registering smallholder farmer groups that successfully applied to participate in the US$67, 43 million programme.
The project was put together by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) who jointly contributed US$50, 7 million with Government adding US$5, 4 million while the private sector chipped in with US$7, 2 million.
The focus of the SACP is to establish partnerships between smallholder farmers and lead enterprises within the agricultural value chains. SACP will cover five provinces of Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Midlands and Matabeleland North.
In an interview yesterday, SACP project coordinator, Dr Godfrey Nehanda said after an initial call for expressions of interest, 821 farmer groups applied and were then screened using predetermined eligibility criteria.
“The groups that were successful in meeting the screening criteria are now being registered to participate in the project,” he said.
The strategy involves organising the farmers into production clusters. This clustering approach aims to strengthen the farmers’ collective production capacity to better meet the demand requirements of the lead enterprises across the value chains.
“By aggregating the smallholder farmers into organised clusters, the goal is to boost their overall production volumes and quality to align with the procurement needs of the lead value chain enterprises,” said Dr Nehanda.
The project aims to complement its sister project the Small Irrigation Revitalisation Programme(SIRP) by promoting agriculture business and market driven agriculture production so farmers can realise value from their farming operations.
As part of SACP, the farmers will receive training to build their business development and financial literacy skills.
“The goal of this training is to empower the smallholder farmers with skills to negotiate and interact with the product off-takers or lead enterprises in the agriculture value chains,” said Dr Nehanda.
The SACP will bridge gaps in the country’s smallholder value chain organisation, which have been causing low productivity and low farmer income through cluster identification and venture capital mobilisation complemented by technical services for the agricultural production groups.
The screening and registration process helps ensure that the project engages with farmer groups that align with the objectives and requirements of SACP.
“This selective approach allows the limited project resources to be channelled towards the most suitable and eligible smallholder farmer organisations,” said Dr Nehanda.
The project is expected to enhance small-scale farmers’ participation in the various components of the agriculture value chains.
SACP is set to increase equitable smallholder participation in market-oriented and climate-smart value chains by growing household nutrition through sustainable transformation of small-scale farming.
Online Reporter