Quarterly Report #3 FY2019: Feed the Future Zimbabwe Livestock Development Program

The program focuses on commercializing low-income and food-insecure households in agro-ecological regions III, IV, and V, with the potential to move from subsistence to small-scale commercial beef and dairy farmers. The program promotes and adopts good agricultural and animal husbandry practices, marketing, hygiene, and nutritional practices, and builds market linkages that generate income and increase farmers' overall resilience, food security, and improved nutritional and hygienic status. The program is implemented by Fintrac Inc. in collaboration with local private companies, non-governmental organizations, the Division of Livestock Production and Development, the Department of Agricultural Technical and Extension Services, the Department of Veterinary Services, and other government departments involved in the beef and dairy value chains. Local NGOs and commercial companies work with the program as development partners to co-fund purchases of essential inputs and new technologies for demonstration purposes on a cost-recovery basis. The program provides technical assistance to reduce poverty and increase food security among 1,800 beef and 1,200 dairy smallholder households in the districts of Chipinge, Chirumhanzu, Gokwe South, Gweru, Kwekwe, and Umzingwane. The program focuses on reducing the prevalence of poverty; increasing incomes and agricultural production and productivity; and improving household nutritional and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) status. In addition, the program is building the capacity of local organizations to implement agricultural development programs. During the quarter of April to June 2019, program activities focused on training, technical assistance, and mobilizing cattle farmers for off the rangeland cattle sales to abattoirs working with the program. Training and technical assistance were provided on production and productivity-enhancing good animal husbandry practices, dosing, vaccination, construction of appropriate cattle handling facilities, and calf-rearing techniques. Business skills training and technical assistance were also provided, including farming as family business, recordkeeping, market intelligence, contract management, credit management, farm planning, group marketing, and enterprise budgeting. The program also expanded the formal and informal marketing of milk and dairy products produced by program beneficiaries. Linkages of beneficiaries and other value chain players to credit and finance providers were expanded and strengthened. Awareness of and training and technical assistance on cross-cutting issues, such as gender, environment, nutrition, and WASH, were provided. The capacity of farmers' groups, milk collection centers, and private sector companies working with the program was built through skills transfer and best practices in monitoring and evaluation. The program's activities during the quarter focused on increasing smallholder farmers' production and productivity through tactical good agricultural and animal husbandry practices coupled with a holistic and whole farm approach to farming as a family business. Farmer groups were trained in record keeping, credit management, and cattle marketing among other training areas. Private sector companies were given assistance in understanding the operations of smallholder farmers.