The project ‘Harnessing Appropriate-scale Farm mechanization In Zimbabwe’ (HAFIZ) aims to support investments by the Government and by the private sector in appropriate-scale farm mechanization in Zimbabwe, particularly around mechanized Pfumvudza, and transfer learnings to South Africa.
Agroecology is an approach to food production that harnesses nature’s goods and services whilst minimizing adverse environmental impacts, and improves farmer-consumer connectivity, knowledge co-creation and inclusive relationships among food system actors.
With an estimated 15% of all agricultural soils in Africa being affected, soil acidity is a major constraint to (current and future) crop production on the continent. As a response, several governments in East Africa - including Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda - have initiated strategic plans toward substantial public investments for the rehabilitation of acid soils.
The objectives of the project ‘Addressing malnutrition with biofortified maize in Zimbabwe; from crop management to policy and consumers’ are 1) to evaluate the new pro-vitamin A (PVA) lines in Zimbabwe under different agronomic practices to gain knowledge on the combination of bio + agronomic fortification, 2) to determine the actual nutrient content of the new PVA lines in farmers' fields with different fertility status, and 3) to predict the dietary mineral supply at regional level with and without bio + agronomic fortification.
The objective of the ‘LIvestock Production System’ (LIPS) project is to improve productivity and climate relevance of livestock-based production systems in Zimbabwe’s agro-ecological regions IV and V through increased adoption of climate relevant innovations in livestock-based production systems, and increased capacity to implement surveillance and control of productivity diseases.
The ‘Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Farming Systems’ (SIFAZ) project aims at sustainably intensifying current smallholder farming systems affected by soil degradation, fertility decline and climate change with improved technologies and scaling approaches to increase productivity, income and facilitate commercial orientation of smallholder farmers while maintaining environmental resilience of the natural resource base for sustainable production in the targeted production systems.
The goal of the project ‘Validating Agro-ecological Control Options for Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith) in Zimbabwe’ is to reduce the negative impact of fall armyworm on food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe, by giving them more control options, based on the principles of agro-ecological management.