CNFA’s Agrodealer Strengthening Project in Zimbabwe, (ASP-Z), funded by USAID, improves incomes for smallholder farmers and strengthens the input distribution system in four target provinces of the country. In the Lupane district of the Matabeleland North Province, 76 farmers engaged in the program’s Zinaphi Irrigation Scheme are seeing the results of the program first hand. Group members learned through program-sponsored demonstrations and trainings, the value of new crops such as beetroot and spinach.

The group was shown that these new vegetables produce a higher yield and are in higher demand in the market. Flatha Nkomo, a smallholder farmer said, “We received higher prices at the local market for spinach than any of the previous vegetables we were selling”.

ASP-Z provided farmers in the Irrigation Scheme samples of the new vegetables to begin growing on their own. One of the farmers, Abednico Hlongwane, who is also a trained Agrodealer, was excited about the potential of these new seeds and is now distributing them at his shop; increasing his own revenue and reducing the distance required for the other farmers to source the new inputs.

As a result of growing these new vegetables, farmers’ incomes will increase by 50 percent. The group plans to use the additional funds to improve storage facilities and provide an output market for their produce.