Sorghum is one of Zimbabwe’s most important drought-tolerant crops
By Dickson Bandera
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in partnership with the Government of Zimbabwe and private sector players, has launched a pilot project aimed at modernizing sorghum production through mechanization and strengthening market linkages to improve smallholder farmers’ incomes.
The initiative, known as the Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission Pillar 3 (FARM P3), will test post-harvest mechanization models across the sorghum value chain to gather data and insights that will guide future investments and policy interventions.
Sorghum, one of Zimbabwe’s most important drought-tolerant crops, plays a crucial role in ensuring food security and climate resilience. However, smallholder farmers continue to face hurdles such as labour-intensive post-harvest processes, high production losses, and limited access to structured markets.
“Sorghum is central to Zimbabwe’s climate resilience, yet farmers struggle to scale, and markets remain untapped. By engaging private-sector partners from the start, the FARM P3 pilot opens a pathway to overcome these challenges and spread benefits across the entire supply chain,” said Alex Nyakatsapa, Senior Value Chain and Agribusiness Advisor for the Smallholder Agriculture Cluster Project (SACP).
Under the one-year pilot, IFAD and its partners will introduce mobile threshing and other mechanization services in selected high-potential sorghum-producing districts. The project aims to reach about 6,000 smallholder farmers, cutting post-harvest losses—currently estimated at up to 30 per cent—while improving yields and market access.
The pilot will also identify and mentor 50 youth and lead farmers to become mechanization service providers. These entrepreneurs will receive business development support, linkages to financial institutions and off-takers, and assistance in developing viable, market-driven models.
Mechanization options to be tested include up to 16 types of equipment, ranging from threshers and transport systems to no-till machinery. These tools are expected to reduce labour requirements from 15 manual workers per hectare to as few as two or three operators, while improving grain quality and competitiveness.
“Through FARM P3 we not only test equipment that raises smallholder incomes in Zimbabwe, but also work with off-takers, financial institutions, youth entrepreneurs and farmers to build business models that create jobs and make mechanization affordable, profitable, and sustainable,” said Francesco Rispoli, IFAD Country Director.
FARM P3 is anchored in public-private partnerships, bringing together producer groups, equipment suppliers, banks, and research institutions—including CGIAR centres—to ensure that mechanization approaches are sustainable and market-driven. Off-takers will collaborate in selecting service providers aligned with sourcing needs, while financial institutions will help validate business cases and reduce lending risks.
The project complements IFAD’s ongoing Smallholder Agriculture Cluster Project (SACP), implemented by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development. The SACP supports agricultural producer groups across 18 districts by promoting climate-smart, market-oriented value chains and providing access to grants, business services, and finance.
By integrating FARM P3 into the SACP framework, IFAD and its partners aim to develop scalable, private-sector-led models that strengthen Zimbabwe’s rural economies and advance national food security goals.
FARM P3 is part of a broader initiative launched by France under the Presidency of the Council of the European Union and hosted by IFAD. Besides Zimbabwe, the pilot is also being implemented in Rwanda, Senegal, and Sierra Leone, targeting local food systems through private-sector-led innovations that build resilience and reduce food losses.
