Local philanthropic organisation Higherlife Foundation, has partnered with the government to help small-scale farmers across the country withstand the effects of climate change through farming input donations and climate-smart agriculture training.
The programme, which is targeted at helping 9 300 farmers in the 2023-24 farming season, has so far seen over 2200 farmers receive catalytic inputs including various fertilizers, herbicides and seeds.
Speaking during the official launch of the collaboration in Hwedza recently, Higherlife’s head of rural transformation and sustainable livelihoods Tinashe Shayi said the organisation had combined efforts with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development towards complementing the latter’s climate-smart agriculture (Pfumvudza) drive.
“We are aware of the fact that there is climate change and a lot of things are happening around our climate so it has become very important for us as Higherlife Foundation and the Ministry of Agriculture to smart-proof our farming,” said Shayi.
“We are complementing the government efforts, we are not coming in to duplicate as we target our three objectives which is to improve food security, dietary diversity, and increasing rural household income.”
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Piloted in Shamva, Mt Darwin and Hwedza over the last two farming seasons, Higherlife's programme has extended its reach to 13 more districts, benefitting thousands of vulnerable farmers while also supporting tens of children-headed homes nationwide.
“It is very good that Higherlife Foundation came on board because we always say that under the Sustainable Development Goals, the last one is smart partnerships and it is partnerships that drive production and productivity in the world currently,” chief director in the Ministry of Agriculture, Samuel Zimunga told NewsDay.
“There is no way anyone can develop without smart partnerships and thanks to Higherlife Foundation for complementing government efforts, we are seeing the impact of complementary efforts, we need more corporations to come in.”
The programme comes at a time Zimbabwe is stalked by hunger as a result of an El Nino-induced drought that calls for innovation by farmers to salvage and realise significant crop yields.