Turning mechanisation wheels on Zimbabwe’s small-scale farms

ACIAR

A new project aiming to climate-proof Zimbabwean farms through improved access to small scale mechanisation to reduce labour bottlenecks has been launched.

Funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) through ACIAR, the project aligns with the Zimbabwean nationwide governmental program Pfumvudza that promotes agricultural practices based on the principles of conservation agriculture. The initiative aims to increase agricultural productivity through minimum soil disturbance, a permanent soil cover, mulching and crop diversification.

Over 18 months, the project will work with selected service providers to support mechanised solutions that are technically, environmentally, and economically appropriate for use in smallholder settings.

Speaking during the recent launch, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development in Zimbabwe, Dr John Basera, explained the tenets of Pfumvudza whose words, when translated, means “a new season”. A new season of adopting climate-smart technologies, conservation agriculture practices and increasing productivity. Simply put, Pfumvudza means a sustainable agricultural productivity scheme.

‘Pfumvudza was a big game-changer in Zimbabwe. We tripled productivity from 0.45 tonnes per hectare to 1.4 tonnes per hectare. Now the big challenge for all of us is to sustain and consolidate the growth, and this is where mechanisation comes into place,’ said Dr Basera.

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Training of service providers at the Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Zimbabwe. Image: Frédéric Baudron
Training of service providers at the Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Zimbabwe. Image: Frédéric Baudron

‘This project is an opportunity for the smallholder farmer in Zimbabwe who contributes to over 60% of the food in the country to be able to produce more with less.’

Building on the findings of the completed ACIAR-funded project Farm mechanisation and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification (FACASI), the new initiative will work with selected farmers and service providers to identify farming systems most suitable for mechanisation. It will also assist private sector companies in targeting their investments as they test a range of technologies powered by small engine machinery adapted to the Zimbabwe context and transfer the resultant learnings to South Africa.

Conservation agriculture adoption offers multidimensional benefits to the farmers with significant yields and sustainability of their systems. The introduction of mechanisation in systems using animals for draught reduces the livestock energy demand; energy that will contribute to increasing meat and milk production.

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Demonstration of a small-scale maize sheller by service provider in Nyanga, Zimbabwe. Image: Frédéric Baudron
Demonstration of a small-scale maize sheller by service provider in Nyanga, Zimbabwe. Image: Frédéric Baudron

While conservation agriculture and research alone can’t solve all the issues affecting agricultural productivity, awareness-raising is integral to help address these issues, and this is where small-scale mechanisation comes in, says ACIAR Crops Research Program Manager, Dr Eric Huttner.

‘We learnt a lot from FACASI and a similar project in Bangladesh on the opportunities of appropriate small-scale mechanisation as a tool towards sustainable intensification when adopted by farmers.

‘If we avoid the mistakes of the past, where large-scale mechanisation efforts were invested in the wrong place and resulted in ineffective machines unusable for farmers, we can make a huge difference in increasing yields and reducing farm drudgery,’ said Dr Huttner.

The project is funded by DFAT through ACIAR and implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in partnership with the Zimbabwe Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, the University of Zimbabwe, the University of Kwa Zulu Natal in South Africa and private sector companies – Kurima, Zimplow and Hello Tractor.

Learn more via the ACIAR website.

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