New UN-United Kingdom Partnership Aims to Boost Food Security in Zimbabwe
New York, Dec 23 2013 - The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Kingdom are teaming up
to support Zimbabwe’s efforts to address poverty, food insecurity and climate change.
A four-year initiative, funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), will enable poor vulnerable
farming households to improve food security, nutrition and income while strengthening their long-term resilience, FAO
said in a news release.
More than 70 per cent of Zimbabweans depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihoods, but they face a wide range
of challenges, including low productivity, limited market integration, low soil fertility in some regions, the impact of
climate change, limited irrigation systems, a lack of smallholder-oriented credit systems and weak agricultural training
and services.
The FAO-managed programme will employ climate-smart farming practices that will raise agricultural productivity, along
with initiatives that will improve farmer access to markets.
It will also aim to boost short-term employment opportunities through safety-net programmes that will help women and men
improve nutrition and invest in their farms, improve irrigation infrastructure and link smallholder farmers with
markets.
In addition, the initiative will strive to provide enabling environments through policy support and to encourage public
and private investments, while also aiming to increase agricultural production and productivity of nutritious foods.
Making farmers resilient against climate change is one of the objectives of the programme, which will focus on promoting
appropriate climate-smart technologies and farming systems, such as greater crop diversity, improved storage, processing
and preservation, crop rotations, conservation agriculture and irrigation.
Resilient livestock production approaches will also be promoted, covering improved feeding strategies, fodder crop
production, animal husbandry and breeding practices.
The new initiative seeks to help nearly 300,000 people in selected districts of the country.
For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
ENDS