Empowering Smallholder Farmers to Market Drought-Resistant Grains and Pulses

Whilst Zimbabwe has made significant food security and nutrition gains, the year-on-year situation remains highly dependent upon increasingly erratic rainfall patterns that have deteriorated as a result of the El Nino event in the region. Chronic undernutrition remains relatively high and, despite some improvement, 28 percent of children under five years of age are stunted. Dietary diversity is poor and consumption of protein is insufficient. The prevalence of HIV and AIDS has declined but remains high at 13.7 percent – the fifth highest globally.

WFP’s 2016-2020 Country Strategic Plan (CSP) for Zimbabwe aims to address identified food security and nutrition challenges. It maintains WFP’s strong humanitarian assistance capacity while sharpening its focus on supporting longer-term recovery and resiliencebuilding to address the underlying causes of food insecurity and undernutrition.

This Development Project particularly focuses on stimulating local production and enhancing agricultural market access with a particular focus upon post-harvest handling and quality control and assurance. It is nutrition-sensitive, informed by gender and protection analyses, and applies the “do-no-harm” approach.