|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Harare, Zimbabwe, 23 June 2025 – The Climate Resilient Livelihoods (CRL) Project, being supported by the Government of Zimbabwe, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is convening a series of Innovation Platform (IP) Market Dialogue Workshops from 23 to 28 June 2025.
The dialogues will offer a rare and strategic opportunity for smallholder farmers in southern Zimbabwe to directly engage with private sector actors, something traditionally beyond the reach of many rural producers.
These events are taking place at the following venues:
- Chisumbanje Research Station – 23 June
- Chiredzi Research Station – 24 June
- Makoholi Research Station – 25 June
- Esigodini Agricultural College – 26 June
- Matopos Research Institute – 27 June
The IP dialogues aim to promote inclusive, structured market systems by connecting climate-resilient smallholder farmers with input suppliers, commodity buyers, financial institutions, and service providers. These interactions are expected to unlock opportunities for contract farming, aggregation, input supply agreements, and public-private partnerships.
“These dialogues are designed to catalyze direct and practical linkages between smallholder producers and the private sector,” said Rungano Benza, CRL Project Manager.
“They will allow farmers to negotiate better prices, explore market opportunities, and engage in production agreements that support climate-smart, market-led agriculture.”
Speaking on the same matter, Simba Mupodyi, Deputy Director for Markets and Trade in the Business Development, Markets, and Trade Directorate of the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, highlighted that these dialogue platforms and engagements present immense opportunities for smallholder farmers, the private sector, and government to co-create market-based solutions. He emphasized that such collaborations are expected to foster strong partnerships capable of
transforming subsistence farming into a more commercially oriented model. Market linkages, as well as market and trade development initiatives, are anticipated as follow-up actions to solidify the partnerships being proposed.
The workshops build on previous Farming as a Business (FaaB) training and producer group profiling initiatives. They will support the commercialization of priority crop and livestock value chains, including sorghum, sweet potatoes, sesame, cattle, goats, and small grains.
Each Dialogue Will Feature:
- Stakeholder meetings focused on inclusive business models and value chain coordination
- Demonstrations of climate-smart technologies and inputs
- Business-to-business (B2B) matchmaking between farmers and private sector actors
- Tailored planning sessions for each Innovation Platform to map partnership pathways
More than 400 participants are expected to attend, including representatives from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, AGRITEX, DRCSS, AMA, DOI, and farmer leaders from project-supported districts.
These dialogues form part of the CRL Project’s broader mandate to strengthen the adaptive capacity and market participation of vulnerable rural communities in semi-arid regions of Zimbabwe, particularly women and youth. The initiative is a vital step toward creating resilient, inclusive, and commercially viable agricultural systems that can withstand the impacts of climate change.
As Zimbabwe continues to face the impacts of climate change, the IP Market Dialogues represent a timely and strategic effort to unlock the full potential of smallholder agriculture. By bridging the gap between producers and private sector actors, the initiative will not only strengthen rural livelihoods but also accelerate the country’s transition toward a more resilient, inclusive, and market-oriented agricultural sector.
