ICRISAT Governing Board calls for strengthening partnerships in drought hit Zimbabwe to benefit smallholder farmers

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (22 April 2016) ― Increasing and expanding the production of small grains such as legumes and millets, are critical for overcoming the challenges of the current severe drought gripping Zimbabwe. This is one of the key messages of the 74^th meeting of the Governing Board of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

To cope with the extreme climate events, there is a need for science backed solutions with stronger partnerships and a country strategy. The focus is a triple win for Zimbabwe by improving crops, such as sorghum, groundnut, chickpea and pigeonpea that are highly nutritious, climate smart and good profitability for smallholder farmers.

ICRISAT, working with the Ministry of Agriculture, and other partners and donors in Zimbabwe, is pursuing new market opportunities for small grains for human nutrition and livestock feed, development and expansion of an integrated groundnut system, use of climate information to manage risk for increased long-term sustainability and resilience of crop-livestock systems.

“Demand-driven agricultural research is key to transforming productivity of the agricultural sector in Zimbabwe particularly of smallholder farmers. The country strategy, which ICRISAT Zimbabwe developed in consultation with national partners, will take advantage of market opportunities and support food production systems that protect the environment and address the realities of climate change,” says ICRISAT Governing Board Chair Professor Chandra Madramootoo.

“The strategy will guide agricultural investment decisions and innovations while being socially inclusive of youth, gender and matters arising from HIV/AIDS to address the challenges faced by smallholder farmers”, adds ICRISAT Director General Dr David Bergvinson.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Eng. Ringson Chitsiko welcomes the initiative, “The development of the ICRISAT country strategy is overdue but never too late and I appreciate the process that values partner contribution. All partners need to take advantage of the process and contribute what they want to see ICRISAT doing in the country. Such partner participation will ensure ownership of the strategy at a country level and strengthen the work so we can improve the lives of smallholder farmers. All partners need to take advantage of the process and contribute to the type of partnership and work program they would like to have with ICRISAT.”

Zimbabwe and other parts of East and Southern Africa are suffering severe drought from El Niño and the effects of climate change, which has destroyed crops and killed livestock. The devastating situation is threatening the livelihoods of millions of smallholder famers in Zimbabwe.

In an effort to fight the vagaries of climate change and other issues, ICRISAT is working in Zimbabwe with partners on projects like Building Farmers’ Resilience to Production Variability through Enhanced Climate Services and Improved Agricultural Technologies. “The main objective of the project is to help smallholder farmers to achieve sustained improvements in food security through better access to climate information, and natural resource management strategies that can improve adaptation to poor seasons and enable them to better exploit good years,” says Dr. Kizito Mazvimavi, ICRISAT’s country representative in Zimbabwe and Head of Monitoring, Evaluation, Impact and Learning.