Zimbabwe has been facing continuous food security and poverty issues due to economic instability and continued climate change affected weather conditions adding to poor food production in-country. This has caused a surge of Zimbabweans to seek alternative sources of income and caused a rise in rural to urban migration. Therefore, with Zimbabwe having become extremely sensitive to climate shocks and drought conditions over the past few years it is necessary for smallholder farmers to seek out new and alternative cash crops that are drought resilient and are guaranteed a market to ensure commodity sales to increase their available income. It is necessary to alleviate poverty in rural areas to slow the urban migration as Zimbabwean cities are not developed enough to handle the rising populous numbers. The Zimbabwean market is in need of an export market and potential domestic market and ETG can provide that market with sesame and Zimbabwe can benefit from the entire value chain.
The introduction and promotion of sesame in Zimbabwe has provided an alternative source of income for farmers who are affected by their semi-arid regions. Currently these farmers depend largely maize on, cotton or other smaller crops in horticulture and due to erratic rain patterns the crop failure risk is quite high. Sesame during the trial period of 2014-15 proved to be very resilient under low rainfall conditions in Gokwe; encouraging smallholders to successfully adapt to sesame cultivation.
Focus/Objectives
To improve livelihoods and food security through partnerships towards the goals and this program addresses particularly SDG 17.1, 17.7, 17.11, 17.15, 17.16, and 17.17.
To create entrepreneurial smallholder farmers: to provide a new and alternative cash crop to the Midlands region and provide farmers with a guaranteed market to improve rural livelihoods, increasing family annual incomes, nutrition and economic standings.
Key characteristics of the experience/process
This collaboration between government, private sector and civil society is an effort to promote the Sustainable Development Goal towards no poverty through SDG 17; Partnerships for the goals. The program should be sustainable due to the relationship established between the smallholder farmer and our private sector partner who provides a guaranteed market and stable source of income to the smallholder.
EFF has a clear perspective from seed to end user/global consumer; taking a unique position in the commercial agri-sector to build a sustainable contract farming model that identifies the gaps and weaknesses and focuses on strengthening production up to the marketing of the crop. Under this programme, EFF aims to continue to strengthen its partnership with financial institutions to provide farmers with rural finance for inputs.
Stage 1:
Pilot created awareness of a new cash crop by “seeing is believing” innovation along with agronomic training, crop production analysis and showing profitability to the farmers at the end of the season. Formed farmer groups and tapped into existing farm groups to register interested farmers and link them with financial institutions. This stage also consisted of the selection and training of Agritex, government extension officers, lead farmers and field extension staff.
Stage 2:
This stage consisted of continued education and farmer training on sesame along with seed distribution. EFF aimed to offer more than a steady market to a smallholder farmer. The training consisted of technical skills along with farming for business education on the benefits of being a good sesame farmer and how she/he can contribute to the global agri-market successfully. By making the smallholder communities more aware about the globalisation/world market and its relationship with Zimbabwean communities EFF hoped to motivate the farmers in a holistic way.
Stage 3:
This stage consisted of best post-harvest handling techniques and training on cleaning, storage and transportation and how these factors affect quality. This was advanced through the provision of cleaning equipment this season to farmers at the rural depots and procurement points in order to provide the farmer with the best possible price for their commodity and to ensure their continued commitment to the sesame crop and the supply of quality sesame to the private sector partner.
Key actors involved and their role
IETC Zimbabwe (subsidiary of ETG) – Private sector partner providing inputs and technical expertise and is the commodity purchaser.
ETG Farmers Foundation – implementing partner, providing training, demonstration plots and in-field support through field extension officers
Consortium Partners:
Agricultural Partnership Trust – Field monitoring and support
Welthingerhilfe – farmgate engagement and monitoring
Palladium – donor funding pool – market developer
JepAgri – sesame seed distributor (incorporating and strengthening local SME)
Intercrest Capital Ltd and Inclusive Financial Services – providers of financial packages for farmers to be able to purchase input packages.
Key changes observed with regards to food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture and food systems
It is too early to assess the full impact of the programme on food security and nutrition. The growth of the program beyond the defined programme perimeters shows the willingness and success of sesame as an alternative cash crop. The programme offers farmers a resilient crop with a guaranteed sustainable local and international market. Monitoring and evaluation will continue with an impact assessment to ascertain the continuation of the relationship between the private sector and smallholder farmers towards the alleviation of rural poverty.
The involvement of women has a greater impact on food security improvement as women farmers have been seen to spend a larger percentage of their income on household food consumption.
The addition of processing of the sesame in a local factory in Harare has led to increasing urban employment and skills development. This ETG factory helps domestic capacity by keeping as much of the value chain processes within Zimbabwe to alleviate domestic rural and urban poverty.
Challenges faced
Sesame production within Zimbabwe used to only happen on a large commercial scale with established infrastructure and processes. Due to the economic collapse in Zimbabwe and the adjustment to smallholder farming schemes sesame has all but disappeared from production within country. Technical training and adaptation to a new crop with more intensive labour needs has been a challenge with the majority of smallholders possessing just the knowledge for the staple crops. This has been tackled through the introduction of supportive field staff who possess a wealth of agricultural knowledge on sesame production and through field demonstration plots, accompanied by field training and support to lead farmers in order to increase our area of coverage and support for the production of sesame and the support of all smallholders endeavouring to grow the commodity and increase their livelihood.
The unpredictable climatic conditions in Zimbabwe have been a challenge. Sesame being a drought resilient crop has performed well in dry conditions, however, it was a challenge when floods were experienced in various areas of operation.
Sesame is still a relatively new crop. Even farmers who have been growing sesame over the past two seasons are still new to the farming practices. The few existent sesame farmers in Zimbabwe have not had a stable reliable market as some have sold to informal cross border traders while small volumes have been procured by local companies. Dust content was an issue and low quality sesame was grown by the few existing sesame farmers. Sesame remains largely a smallholder crop in Africa mainly due to lack of mechanization tools for planting, harvesting and cleaning at the farm gate level.
Lessons/Key messages
This programme has enlightened many farmers with an entrepreneurial spirit – moving them from purely subsistence farming to sustainable farming by introducing a new variety of cash crops and training them to properly grow the commodity to get the best market price. Rural transformation is necessary to ensure food security. This project ensures rural transformation is done through the promotion of an entrepreneurial spirit garnered and supported by a private sector partner who provides the crucial market access.
ETG Farmers Foundation (EFF) Export Trading Group (ETG)
Main responsible entity
Various
Date/Timeframe
2013 – 2016
Funding source
Corporate grant
Location
Tanzania: Tanga
Background/Context
Agriculture is the largest sector in the economy of Tanzania. About half of the GDP and exports come from agriculture. Moreover, most industries are linked to the agricultural sector as well. About 70% of the incomes of rural households are derived from the sale of agricultural products. Most smallholder farmers cultivate less than 5 acres of land using hand tools and traditional agricultural practices. Women form the majority of the agricultural labour force, especially in the production of food crops. Despite the importance of smallholder agriculture in the agricultural sector of the continent, restricted access to markets and credit, inadequate infrastructure and low levels of skills and knowledge transfer have constrained the productivity growth of the sector, resulting in increasing rural transformation through migration.
Most farmers are able to meet their daily food needs through their own harvest or by purchasing other food crops locally, but have no surplus food or income, and therefore rarely invest in productive assets or even in inputs for the next season, keeping the quantity and quality of their produce low and ending up trapped in poverty. Many even borrow from informal lenders to meet near-term cash needs.
Focus/Objectives
The United Nations declared 2016, the International Year of the Pulses to give significance to pulses as a future food for health, nutrition and sustainability. Tanzania is the tenth largest producer of pulses in the world and the second in Africa.
EFF has created an opportunity to commercialize the farming of pulses (pigeon pea and green gram) amongst smallholder farmers in the region of Tanga by partnering with District Agricultural Authorities and thereby optimizing crop yields, the quality of production and increasing profitability for farmers, linking them to ETG as a guaranteed market buyer.
Despite favourable soil and climate conditions farmers were not producing these crops because they were unaware of their potential cash benefit and were lacking farming knowledge and technologies for substantial production which would attract a commercial market buyer.
Key characteristics of the experience/process
Season 1: March-December 2013 – Demo plot set up and group formation
Farmers’ skills development and knowledge transfer through demonstration plots management and group training. EFF, in cooperation with government field officers, implemented an extension training model which uses a commercial approach to provide farmers technical skills as well as insight to long term profitability and value. Taking advantage of the bimodal rain pattern in the region (two rainy seasons per year) the EFF team and government extension staff taught farmers skills and best practices in pigeon pea and green gram cultivation from land preparation to post harvest handling, holistic farm management, land preservation, new technologies including improved seed varieties, use of fertilizers and agro chemicals, and farming as a business skills.
EFF established a network of 800 farmers (direct beneficiaries): 500 to grow pigeon peas and 300 to grow green grams on contract for ETG. Seed loan: Each contracted farmer received a loan 4 kg improved variety seed required to cultivate 1 acre of land and technical assistance. The average yield per farmer rose from below 100 kg/acre to 150/kg.
Season 3: March-December 2015 – Contract farming scheme (seed + agro chemical input loan)
Input finance was extended to 300 farmers growing pigeon peas and 100 farmers growing green gram with the addition of a supply of agro-chemicals. At procurement, EFF introduced mobile money payments, contributing to smallholders’ financial inclusion.
Season 4: March 2016 ongoing – EFF activities:
EFF has continued with demonstration plots while expanding the project with a seed multiplication scheme. There continues to be a provision of inputs for farmer and mechanization services have begun to be offered on a cash basis. Through the official registration of groups the linkages with credit institutions such as NMB Bank have become secure and sustainable.
Key actors involved and their role
ETG Farmers Foundation – implementing partner
ETG Tanzania – private sector partner
NMB Bank – financial lender
Government Extension Staff – field operations
Key changes observed with regards to food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture and food systems
Of the 1300 farmers who took part in the project the average annual income for those who grew pigeon peas increased between US$220-$270 and for those who grew green grams their annual income increased by approximately US$380-$440. From the Tanga project 800 farmers grew pigeon peas averaging a yield of 300kg and of the 500 farmers who grew green grams their average yield was 350kg. This annual income significantly increased the livelihoods of rural farmers who have invested the income back into their properties and it has alleviated rural poverty within the Tanga region.
Challenges faced
Despite the enormous potential, the sector has many challenges to face. As is the case of the whole agricultural sector, smallholder farmers lack commercially available improved pulse varieties; have limited access to inputs; training and services to improve productivity and reduce losses; and have limited access to rural finance, storage and warehousing facilities and market information. This means that there is a great need to not only scale up production, but to improve the quality of the product and its marketability to meet the growing global demand. EFF faced all of these challenges with the implementation of the project but working with government officials and financial institutions using ETG as a financial backer EFF was able to secure financing for smallholder farmers through NMB Bank and NMB Foundation.
In terms of seed varieties, although the general trend in availability of improved seeds in Tanzania is increasing. The seed requirements of farming communities, especially the smallscale farmers, in terms of quantities and/or crop species, has not been met by the formal seed system primarily due to: inadequate capacities of the local production, socio-cultural preferences of different farming communities in various agro-ecological regions and farmers’ low purchasing power. In the attempt to cover the seed shortage, promote crop diversification and enhance the uptake of improved varieties, in January 2016 EFF designed and established an on-farm seed multiplication scheme providing the necessary legal, administrative support, inputs, tools and technical training to selected farmers in the region, to enable them to produce and supply improved pigeon pea seeds to fellow farmers at affordable prices.
Lessons/Key messages
EFF saw the opportunity to introduce pulses to increase smallholder household income and reduce poverty in rural Tanzania. EFF trained government extension staff to set up and manage demonstration plots, imparting technical expertise and working in conjunction with government so the program could become sustainable and long lasting. We also introduced improved varieties of seeds, usage on inorganic and organic inputs through technical training and formalised groups by villages in over 20 villages reaching over 1,300 smallholder farmers. The project will continue after EFF withdraws itself from the project due to the now established linkages between the private sector partner ETG and the communities of farmers and formalised farmer groups.
Mme Kathryn Richards
Proponent
ETG Farmers Foundation (EFF)
Export Trading Group (ETG)
Main responsible entity
Various
Date/Timeframe
2014 – 2017
Funding source
Partnerships and donor funding (UKaid)
Location
Zimbabwe: Various
Background/Context
Zimbabwe has been facing continuous food security and poverty issues due to economic instability and continued climate change affected weather conditions adding to poor food production in-country. This has caused a surge of Zimbabweans to seek alternative sources of income and caused a rise in rural to urban migration. Therefore, with Zimbabwe having become extremely sensitive to climate shocks and drought conditions over the past few years it is necessary for smallholder farmers to seek out new and alternative cash crops that are drought resilient and are guaranteed a market to ensure commodity sales to increase their available income. It is necessary to alleviate poverty in rural areas to slow the urban migration as Zimbabwean cities are not developed enough to handle the rising populous numbers. The Zimbabwean market is in need of an export market and potential domestic market and ETG can provide that market with sesame and Zimbabwe can benefit from the entire value chain.
The introduction and promotion of sesame in Zimbabwe has provided an alternative source of income for farmers who are affected by their semi-arid regions. Currently these farmers depend largely maize on, cotton or other smaller crops in horticulture and due to erratic rain patterns the crop failure risk is quite high. Sesame during the trial period of 2014-15 proved to be very resilient under low rainfall conditions in Gokwe; encouraging smallholders to successfully adapt to sesame cultivation.
Focus/Objectives
To improve livelihoods and food security through partnerships towards the goals and this program addresses particularly SDG 17.1, 17.7, 17.11, 17.15, 17.16, and 17.17.
To create entrepreneurial smallholder farmers: to provide a new and alternative cash crop to the Midlands region and provide farmers with a guaranteed market to improve rural livelihoods, increasing family annual incomes, nutrition and economic standings.
Key characteristics of the experience/process
This collaboration between government, private sector and civil society is an effort to promote the Sustainable Development Goal towards no poverty through SDG 17; Partnerships for the goals. The program should be sustainable due to the relationship established between the smallholder farmer and our private sector partner who provides a guaranteed market and stable source of income to the smallholder.
EFF has a clear perspective from seed to end user/global consumer; taking a unique position in the commercial agri-sector to build a sustainable contract farming model that identifies the gaps and weaknesses and focuses on strengthening production up to the marketing of the crop. Under this programme, EFF aims to continue to strengthen its partnership with financial institutions to provide farmers with rural finance for inputs.
Stage 1:
Pilot created awareness of a new cash crop by “seeing is believing” innovation along with agronomic training, crop production analysis and showing profitability to the farmers at the end of the season. Formed farmer groups and tapped into existing farm groups to register interested farmers and link them with financial institutions. This stage also consisted of the selection and training of Agritex, government extension officers, lead farmers and field extension staff.
Stage 2:
This stage consisted of continued education and farmer training on sesame along with seed distribution. EFF aimed to offer more than a steady market to a smallholder farmer. The training consisted of technical skills along with farming for business education on the benefits of being a good sesame farmer and how she/he can contribute to the global agri-market successfully. By making the smallholder communities more aware about the globalisation/world market and its relationship with Zimbabwean communities EFF hoped to motivate the farmers in a holistic way.
Stage 3:
This stage consisted of best post-harvest handling techniques and training on cleaning, storage and transportation and how these factors affect quality. This was advanced through the provision of cleaning equipment this season to farmers at the rural depots and procurement points in order to provide the farmer with the best possible price for their commodity and to ensure their continued commitment to the sesame crop and the supply of quality sesame to the private sector partner.
Key actors involved and their role
IETC Zimbabwe (subsidiary of ETG) – Private sector partner providing inputs and technical expertise and is the commodity purchaser.
ETG Farmers Foundation – implementing partner, providing training, demonstration plots and in-field support through field extension officers
Consortium Partners:
Agricultural Partnership Trust – Field monitoring and support
Welthingerhilfe – farmgate engagement and monitoring
Palladium – donor funding pool – market developer
JepAgri – sesame seed distributor (incorporating and strengthening local SME)
Intercrest Capital Ltd and Inclusive Financial Services – providers of financial packages for farmers to be able to purchase input packages.
Key changes observed with regards to food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture and food systems
It is too early to assess the full impact of the programme on food security and nutrition. The growth of the program beyond the defined programme perimeters shows the willingness and success of sesame as an alternative cash crop. The programme offers farmers a resilient crop with a guaranteed sustainable local and international market. Monitoring and evaluation will continue with an impact assessment to ascertain the continuation of the relationship between the private sector and smallholder farmers towards the alleviation of rural poverty.
The involvement of women has a greater impact on food security improvement as women farmers have been seen to spend a larger percentage of their income on household food consumption.
The addition of processing of the sesame in a local factory in Harare has led to increasing urban employment and skills development. This ETG factory helps domestic capacity by keeping as much of the value chain processes within Zimbabwe to alleviate domestic rural and urban poverty.
Challenges faced
Sesame production within Zimbabwe used to only happen on a large commercial scale with established infrastructure and processes. Due to the economic collapse in Zimbabwe and the adjustment to smallholder farming schemes sesame has all but disappeared from production within country. Technical training and adaptation to a new crop with more intensive labour needs has been a challenge with the majority of smallholders possessing just the knowledge for the staple crops. This has been tackled through the introduction of supportive field staff who possess a wealth of agricultural knowledge on sesame production and through field demonstration plots, accompanied by field training and support to lead farmers in order to increase our area of coverage and support for the production of sesame and the support of all smallholders endeavouring to grow the commodity and increase their livelihood.
The unpredictable climatic conditions in Zimbabwe have been a challenge. Sesame being a drought resilient crop has performed well in dry conditions, however, it was a challenge when floods were experienced in various areas of operation.
Sesame is still a relatively new crop. Even farmers who have been growing sesame over the past two seasons are still new to the farming practices. The few existent sesame farmers in Zimbabwe have not had a stable reliable market as some have sold to informal cross border traders while small volumes have been procured by local companies. Dust content was an issue and low quality sesame was grown by the few existing sesame farmers. Sesame remains largely a smallholder crop in Africa mainly due to lack of mechanization tools for planting, harvesting and cleaning at the farm gate level.
Lessons/Key messages
This programme has enlightened many farmers with an entrepreneurial spirit – moving them from purely subsistence farming to sustainable farming by introducing a new variety of cash crops and training them to properly grow the commodity to get the best market price. Rural transformation is necessary to ensure food security. This project ensures rural transformation is done through the promotion of an entrepreneurial spirit garnered and supported by a private sector partner who provides the crucial market access.
Mme Kathryn Richards
Proponent
ETG Farmers Foundation (EFF) Export Trading Group (ETG)
Main responsible entity
Various
Date/Timeframe
2013 – 2016
Funding source
Corporate grant
Location
Tanzania: Tanga
Background/Context
Agriculture is the largest sector in the economy of Tanzania. About half of the GDP and exports come from agriculture. Moreover, most industries are linked to the agricultural sector as well. About 70% of the incomes of rural households are derived from the sale of agricultural products. Most smallholder farmers cultivate less than 5 acres of land using hand tools and traditional agricultural practices. Women form the majority of the agricultural labour force, especially in the production of food crops. Despite the importance of smallholder agriculture in the agricultural sector of the continent, restricted access to markets and credit, inadequate infrastructure and low levels of skills and knowledge transfer have constrained the productivity growth of the sector, resulting in increasing rural transformation through migration.
Most farmers are able to meet their daily food needs through their own harvest or by purchasing other food crops locally, but have no surplus food or income, and therefore rarely invest in productive assets or even in inputs for the next season, keeping the quantity and quality of their produce low and ending up trapped in poverty. Many even borrow from informal lenders to meet near-term cash needs.
Focus/Objectives
The United Nations declared 2016, the International Year of the Pulses to give significance to pulses as a future food for health, nutrition and sustainability. Tanzania is the tenth largest producer of pulses in the world and the second in Africa.
EFF has created an opportunity to commercialize the farming of pulses (pigeon pea and green gram) amongst smallholder farmers in the region of Tanga by partnering with District Agricultural Authorities and thereby optimizing crop yields, the quality of production and increasing profitability for farmers, linking them to ETG as a guaranteed market buyer.
Despite favourable soil and climate conditions farmers were not producing these crops because they were unaware of their potential cash benefit and were lacking farming knowledge and technologies for substantial production which would attract a commercial market buyer.
Key characteristics of the experience/process
Season 1: March-December 2013 – Demo plot set up and group formation
Farmers’ skills development and knowledge transfer through demonstration plots management and group training. EFF, in cooperation with government field officers, implemented an extension training model which uses a commercial approach to provide farmers technical skills as well as insight to long term profitability and value. Taking advantage of the bimodal rain pattern in the region (two rainy seasons per year) the EFF team and government extension staff taught farmers skills and best practices in pigeon pea and green gram cultivation from land preparation to post harvest handling, holistic farm management, land preservation, new technologies including improved seed varieties, use of fertilizers and agro chemicals, and farming as a business skills.
Season 2: March-December 2014 – Contract farming scheme (seed input loan)
EFF established a network of 800 farmers (direct beneficiaries): 500 to grow pigeon peas and 300 to grow green grams on contract for ETG. Seed loan: Each contracted farmer received a loan 4 kg improved variety seed required to cultivate 1 acre of land and technical assistance. The average yield per farmer rose from below 100 kg/acre to 150/kg.
Season 3: March-December 2015 – Contract farming scheme (seed + agro chemical input loan)
Input finance was extended to 300 farmers growing pigeon peas and 100 farmers growing green gram with the addition of a supply of agro-chemicals. At procurement, EFF introduced mobile money payments, contributing to smallholders’ financial inclusion.
Season 4: March 2016 ongoing – EFF activities:
EFF has continued with demonstration plots while expanding the project with a seed multiplication scheme. There continues to be a provision of inputs for farmer and mechanization services have begun to be offered on a cash basis. Through the official registration of groups the linkages with credit institutions such as NMB Bank have become secure and sustainable.
Key actors involved and their role
ETG Farmers Foundation – implementing partner
ETG Tanzania – private sector partner
NMB Bank – financial lender
Government Extension Staff – field operations
Key changes observed with regards to food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture and food systems
Of the 1300 farmers who took part in the project the average annual income for those who grew pigeon peas increased between US$220-$270 and for those who grew green grams their annual income increased by approximately US$380-$440. From the Tanga project 800 farmers grew pigeon peas averaging a yield of 300kg and of the 500 farmers who grew green grams their average yield was 350kg. This annual income significantly increased the livelihoods of rural farmers who have invested the income back into their properties and it has alleviated rural poverty within the Tanga region.
Challenges faced
Despite the enormous potential, the sector has many challenges to face. As is the case of the whole agricultural sector, smallholder farmers lack commercially available improved pulse varieties; have limited access to inputs; training and services to improve productivity and reduce losses; and have limited access to rural finance, storage and warehousing facilities and market information. This means that there is a great need to not only scale up production, but to improve the quality of the product and its marketability to meet the growing global demand. EFF faced all of these challenges with the implementation of the project but working with government officials and financial institutions using ETG as a financial backer EFF was able to secure financing for smallholder farmers through NMB Bank and NMB Foundation.
In terms of seed varieties, although the general trend in availability of improved seeds in Tanzania is increasing. The seed requirements of farming communities, especially the smallscale farmers, in terms of quantities and/or crop species, has not been met by the formal seed system primarily due to: inadequate capacities of the local production, socio-cultural preferences of different farming communities in various agro-ecological regions and farmers’ low purchasing power. In the attempt to cover the seed shortage, promote crop diversification and enhance the uptake of improved varieties, in January 2016 EFF designed and established an on-farm seed multiplication scheme providing the necessary legal, administrative support, inputs, tools and technical training to selected farmers in the region, to enable them to produce and supply improved pigeon pea seeds to fellow farmers at affordable prices.
Lessons/Key messages
EFF saw the opportunity to introduce pulses to increase smallholder household income and reduce poverty in rural Tanzania. EFF trained government extension staff to set up and manage demonstration plots, imparting technical expertise and working in conjunction with government so the program could become sustainable and long lasting. We also introduced improved varieties of seeds, usage on inorganic and organic inputs through technical training and formalised groups by villages in over 20 villages reaching over 1,300 smallholder farmers. The project will continue after EFF withdraws itself from the project due to the now established linkages between the private sector partner ETG and the communities of farmers and formalised farmer groups.