India donates agric inputs to Zim
RYAN CHIGOCHE
The government of India has donated agriculture inputs to World Food Programme in Zimbabwe to support over 6 000 smallholder farmers in Mangwe and Chiredzi districts, Masvingo Province.
The support will see 3484 farmers from Mangwe and 2 602 from Chiredzi districts receiving the inputs.
Business Times can report that about 60 extension officers from the two districts will be capacitated as they will be responsible for making sure that the farmers adopt new climate-smart technologies such as the government’s program of Pfumvudza.
In Zimbabwe, smallholder farmers have been severely affected by food insecurity over the past years with women being the most affected as they make up a very significant proportion of the agriculture sector.
Speaking at the handover ceremony at WFP warehouse on Wednesday Agritex director, Stancilae Taperera appreciated the efforts by the Indian government.
”The inputs we are receiving from India today (Wednesday) as a support to our extension programs for vulnerable households is one of the support our government cherishes from our development partner countries such as India through UN support to WFP Zimbabwe. Through this program we have managed to link our farmers to better markets before and we continue to encourage WFP and India to support farmer access to better markets” Tapererwa said.
He added: ”Our partnership with WFP and FAO focuses on improving food and nutrition security for vulnerable households with special emphasis on rural vulnerable women,youth households with orphans.”
WFP Country Director Fransesca Erdelmann thanked the government of India for their contribution saying it will go a long way to support the drought-exposed smallholder farmers.
”We particularly express our appreciation to the Government of India for their generous contribution to the people of Zimbabwe.
“This year we have collectively empowered smallholder farmers in rural areas to better prepare for climate-related events such as recurring droughts-reaching over 6000 people across two districts implemented through WFP Smallholder Agricultural Markets Support Programmes,” Erldermann said.
She added: “What makes this program particularly successful is the pool of resources and expertise between our respective organizations all working towards developing the resilience of smallholder farmers.
“WFP has been proud to support our partners through the implementation, logistics, and monitoring of the program, helping to distribute drought tolerant small grains, fertilizers, and other agricultural inputs through our established.”
Also speaking at the handover ceremony, the Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Vijay Khanduja, said:
”This contribution is very important since we are fighting the challenge of climate change. India will continue to support the farmers in the country towards this goal. We will engage in more partnerships to help the people of Zimbabwe,” Khanduja said.
In Zimbabwe ,WFP activities focus on cereals and pulses such as maize sorghum millet and cowpeas.
Their demand for traditional grains such as sorghum and millet encouraging their production contributes to climate resilience, nutrition and women empowerment.
These crops are also drought-resistant and generally lower , meaning their producers are more vulnerable to limited market access.
