To boost crop production and create more jobs, FAO has rehabilitated and handed over an irrigation scheme to the Beitbridge District, a farming community in Matabeleland, South Province of Zimbabwe.

In Zimbabwe, over 70 percent of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods. Climate change is threatening agricultural productivity and exacerbating some of Zimbabwe’s key agricultural challenges: low soil fertility, reliance on rain-fed systems, poorly functioning markets, and farmers’ limited access to credit, knowledge and best practices. To address these challenges, FAO, the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DfID) and partners are implementing the Zimbabwe Livelihoods and Food Security Programme (LFSP) with the aim of improving agricultural productivity and creating income security for over 127 000 farmer households in 8 districts in Zimbabwe. 

The economy of Zimbabwe – once considered the breadbasket of southern Africa – has begun to turn around after a decade-long recession that saw a sharp drop in agricultural production, falling incomes and increasing food shortages. With some 70 percent of people relying on agriculture for their livelihoods, the strength of this sector is key to economic recovery. FAO has worked with the government to increase farmers’ uptake of conservation agriculture – a no-till system that increases yields while protecting fields from erosion, improving soil quality and mitigating the effects of drought.

The European Union (EU), FAO and the Government of Zimbabwe launched a major programme to assist smallholder farmers boost productivity and engage in commercial agriculture through integrated farming approaches. The 4-year US$19 million programme is managed by FAO and focuses on smallholder irrigation and livestock production support activities. As part of the larger programme, the livestock component (roughly US$ 10 million) is placing special emphasis on supporting 40 000 poor farmers - in Nkayi and Lupane Districts in Matabeleland North Province - who practice mixed crop-livestock production. 

Growing water-thirsty crops like maize in drought-prone areas is obviously risky. Yet many of Zimbabwe's smallholder farmers are doing precisely that - and with it, increasing their chances of poor yields, lost income and hunger. Working alongside Zimbabwe's Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development, FAO , through its Technical Cooperation Programme, has been working to boost the production, processing and marketing of small grains in three of the country's drier provinces. 

Due to a combination of factors that include poor output markets, low liquidity among smallholder farmers and lack of affordable credit to finance seasonal production costs (including equipment operation, maintenance and repair costs), smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe have not been able to access affordable inputs to increase their production. In addition to this, the economic meltdown witnessed in Zimbabwe in the past decade, saw many smallholder irrigation schemes significantly reduce their operational capacity or grind to a halt due to lack of maintenance. FAO supported smallholder farmers in the region by introducing a programme that improved banana cultivars, organized farmers into a group for marketing and linked farmers to Matanuska, a leading private banana export company.