VZCZCXRO4080
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0329/01 1101239
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 201239Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4397
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA IMMEDIATE 5665
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2073
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1986
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000329 
 
SIPDIS 
AIDAC 
 
AFR/SA FOR ELOKEN, LDOBBINS, BHIRSCH, JHARMON 
OFDA/W FOR ACONVERY, CCHAN, LPOWERS, KMARTIN 
FFP/W FOR JBORNS, ASINK, LPETERSEN 
PRETORIA FOR HHALE, PDISKIN, SMCNIVEN 
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH 
ROME FOR USUN FODAG FOR RNEWBERG 
BRUSSELS FOR USAID PBROWN 
NEW YORK FOR DMERCADO 
NSC FOR CPRATT 
 
E.O.  12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID EAGR PREL PHUM ZI
SUBJECT:  USAID/OFDA FIELD TRIP REPORT: AGRICULTURE/FOOD SECURITY 
MONITORING IN ZIMBABWE 
 
HARARE 00000329  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  From March 1-5, USAID's Southern Africa Principal Regional 
Advisor for the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) 
Harlan Hale and USAID/OFDA Zimbabwe Humanitarian Program Specialist 
Mark Adams conducted field monitoring assessments of 
agriculture/food security projects in the Matabeleland South and 
Masvingo Provinces of the country.  These projects are led by an 
association of NGO partners, the Consortium for Southern Africa Food 
Emergency (C-SAFE), which comprises World Vision, CARE, and Catholic 
Relief Services (CRS).  Project objectives include improved 
household food security through conservation of water for productive 
uses (though water catchment management and small scale irrigation), 
community-based Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) planning, and the 
utilization of conservation farming (CF) techniques among 
drought-affected communities.  Despite a delay in program 
implementation due to the Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) suspension on 
NGO activities during 2008, the project sites visited demonstrated 
considerable progress and improvement in infrastructure development, 
beneficiary satisfaction, adoption of CF methodologies, and improved 
food security of targeted households.  USAID/OFDA highlights the 
importance of this programming as part of its broader 
agriculture/food security strategy, and notes that, pending 
USAID/Zimbabwe's transition into an economic growth approach, 
dam/irrigation system rehabilitation offers robust opportunities for 
livelihood security and agricultural recovery.  END SUMMARY. 
 
-------------------- 
CONTEXT and STRATEGY 
-------------------- 
 
¶2. Poor availability and access to appropriate inputs, combined with 
droughts and/or poor agricultural seasons over the past three years, 
have adversely affected the overall food security situation in 
Zimbabwe.  Moreover, extension services provided by the GOZ's 
Ministry of Agriculture have been weakened due to budget 
restrictions, lack of mobility and supervision, and the loss of 
experienced staff.  Farmers continue to suffer from the effects of 
low yields primarily due to late planting, erratic rainfall, and use 
of low technology.  The majority of farmers practice rain-fed 
subsistence farming and coincide field planting with the onset of 
the rains.  Resource-poor households in the most drought-prone areas 
are particularly vulnerable to crop failure and food insecurity. 
 
¶3. USAID/OFDA's C-SAFE programming aims to increase household food 
security, thereby reducing the necessity of food assistance.  By 
coupling the distribution of appropriate inputs (primarily sorghum 
and millet for drought-prone areas and legumes for crop rotation) 
with training in conservation farming (CF) techniques, farmers are 
more resilient to drought and less dependent upon fertilizer, 
draught power, and robust rainfall.  Conservation farming enhances 
dry land production, and addresses diminishing returns by retaining 
scarce water for direct use by plants, promoting soil stability, 
Qscarce water for direct use by plants, promoting soil stability, 
improving fertility, and emphasizing timely planting and weeding. 
These key management practices can contribute to dramatic yield 
increases, over 100 percent in a single season with greater returns 
in subsequent seasons.  C-SAFE partners utilize a "lead farmer" 
methodology, whereby small groups receive technical support and 
guidance from the NGO and lead farmer.  Targeted beneficiaries and 
the broader community are shown the practical benefits of CF via 
lead farmer "test plots" that compare this methodology to 
traditional techniques by planting the same crops in an adjacent 
plot.  On NGO-led "field days," community members and GOZ 
representatives are invited to a lead farmer's homestead to observe 
the successes of CF and offer prizes to the most succesful CF 
farmers.  Test plots and field days substantially increase awareness 
of CF techniques, and lead to interest and adoption from the wider 
community. 
 
¶4. Conservation farming has been targeted to areas in natural region 
 
HARARE 00000329  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
IV and some areas of natural region V where dryland cropping is 
practiced and yields are inconsistent due to erratic rainfall 
conditions.  However, in some region V areas with sandy soil and 
very poor rainfall, the benefits of conservation farming are 
limited.  In such areas, scarce water must be efficiently captured 
and utilized to meet the competing needs of humans, livestock, and 
agricultural production.  The focus of C-SAFE's small dams and 
irrigation schemes intervention is to improve the efficiency of dams 
to capture and retain scarce water, and to improve the functionality 
of these dams for agricultural production and livestock through 
appropriate irrigation schemes and the construction or repair of 
livestock troughs.  Household livelihood surveys performed by CARE 
demonstrate that households with access to irrigation from small 
dams have significantly greater food security and higher incomes. 
 
¶5. Rehabilitation of dams and irrigation schemes may also serve as a 
beneficial complement to CF techniques in less drought-prone areas, 
and C-SAFE partners also provide technical guidance and inputs to 
these communities.  There are a substantial number of dams and 
irrigation systems throughout the country, initially constructed by 
government works programs, which have fallen into disrepair.  In 
some instances, minimal infrastructure improvements are needed to 
resuscitate their functionality. 
 
-------------------- 
FIELD VISIT FINDINGS 
-------------------- 
 
¶6. Led by project staff from World Vision and CARE, the USAID/OFDA 
team travelled to Gwanda and Beitbridge districts within 
Matabeleland South, and the districts of Chivi and Bikita within 
Masvingo.  The team visited an informative array of project sites, 
including three community dams in various stages of completion, and 
a finished dam and irrigation site that is now wholly 
community-managed.  Several CF beneficiaries were visited, including 
lead farmers who were in their second year of adoption.  The size of 
their home-based plots utilizing CF was indicative of their 
confidence in the methodology.  In conversations, they recalled 
their experiential learning with the process and related the 
ever-increasing number of adopters from the wider community.  In 
addition, members of the extension staff of the Ministry of 
Agriculture are incorporated in the project, have learned alongside 
CF adopters, and are now better equipped to promote conservation 
farming in their extension work in the future. 
 
¶7. USAID/OFDA staff was impressed with the overall community 
participation for building and reconstruction of dam and irrigation 
schemes.  Under the guidance of NGO partners, communities 
traditionally organize themselves into self-elected management 
committees and sub-committees that oversee dam and garden 
initiatives.  In some areas, a complimentary livelihoods component 
is funded by the United Kingdom's Department for International 
Development (DFID).  This provides the same beneficiaries training 
QDevelopment (DFID).  This provides the same beneficiaries training 
in small-scale savings and lending and microfinance, which enables 
them to sell surplus vegetables or fish (in areas where the dam 
water is perennially full or spring-fed) for increased household 
savings and income.  Owing to the recent transition to the U.S. 
dollar and South African rand, households now have a more stable 
currency for savings. 
 
¶8. C-SAFE has well-incorporated principles of Disaster Risk 
Reduction (DRR) into programming, and has guided the establishment 
of community-level DRR committees.  These groups develop 
context-specific DRR plans, and in Bikita, USAID/OFDA staff visited 
a community DRR workshop in process.  Around the training hut were 
ward-specific problem and solution trees on the topics of both 
drought and cholera, and approximately 30 participants were 
discussing practical elements to reduce their vulnerability to each. 
 For drought, the solutions listed included crop rotation, crop 
diversity, reforestation, and the importance of a well-planned 
budget.  They further emphasized minimizing erosion/runoff in dam 
catchment areas in order to prevent a reduction in dam water holding 
 
HARARE 00000329  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
capacity.  Cholera prevention methods included the burial of rubbish 
and human waste, the washing of fruits and vegetables with clean 
water, and having ingredients to prepare sugar-salt solution in the 
event of severe diarrhea.  In the future, these ward-level plans 
could contribute to the development of a broader, district-wide 
Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Plan. 
 
¶9. USAID/OFDA staff also met with the GOZ's Chief Executive Officer 
(CEO) of the Beitbridge Rural District Council (RDC).  He commended 
the work of the C-SAFE partners, and offered thanks to USAID on 
behalf of his constituents.  He requested further and continued 
assistance, beginning with the recommendation that an inventory be 
conducted of the district's existing dam infrastructure.  The 
USAID/OFDA Principal Regional Advisor suggested linkages to the Food 
Agriculture, Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) and 
the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).  These 
like-minded agencies share regional offices in Pretoria, and could 
conduct the assessment and offer technical and policy inputs that 
would be instructive for the broader country, should more robust 
rehabilitation be pursued. 
 
¶10. In Chivi District, the team visited a dam and irrigation site 
that is now wholly community-managed.  The dam was first constructed 
by the GOZ District Development Fund in 1985, and rehabilitation 
began in 1998 under the guidance of CARE.  Eighty-two households now 
benefit from a scheme that includes year-round irrigated crops, 
fruit tree nurseries, livestock watering, and a sand filter for the 
provision of potable water.  Fish are harvested from the dam, 
beehives have been constructed, th community manages a functioning 
seed bank, and savings and lending schemes continue to operate.  The 
community oversees the 14 square kilometer water catchment area, and 
maintains the fencing around the 3.5 hectare garden.  CARE support 
ended in 2003, after a dam breach caused by Cyclone Eline in 2000. 
 
¶11. USAID/Zimbabwe is presently in the process of finalizing its 
Economic Growth and Development Strategy (EGAD), and recognizes that 
dam/irrigation system rehabilitation and expansion can provide 
relatively short-term achievements in livelihood security and 
agricultural recovery.  Further, these interventions could be paired 
with small-scale lending schemes, and, more broadly, can link to 
private sector support mechanisms (contract farming, vegetable 
markets).  The rehabilitation of these dams offer opportunities for 
employment and vocational training, and, if needed, may be paired 
with Food for Assets programming in the short-term. 
 
¶12. USAID/OFDA's other, complementary agriculture/food security 
support includes grants to Holistic Management International, 
Africare, Action Contre la Faim, and the Food and Agriculture 
Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.  USAID/OFDA support to the 
successful C-SAFE programming will likely continue.  Consortium 
partners are presently finalizing detail to submit a cost extension 
Qpartners are presently finalizing detail to submit a cost extension 
to complete work that was unfinished and delayed by the NGO 
suspension, and the proposed extension will also enable post-harvest 
monitoring.  The consortium is presently in the process of sharing 
best practices and lessons learned while conducting impact 
assessments and comparative site studies. 
 
MCGEE