Evaluation of the impact of agricultural recovery programmes on communal farming productivity in Mudavanhu ward 12 of Masvingo district, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Increased climatic variability and socio-economic decline due to instability on the political landscape prompted acute food supply shortages in communal Zimbabwe particularly at the turn of the 21st century. Agricultural recovery programmes, (ARPs) though not new in the country, were implemented by central government and non-governmental or-ganisations (NGOs) with increased vigour in a bid to capacitate smallholder farmers against food inse-curity. The paper focuses on whether implementedagricultural recovery programmes by NGOs haveimproved agricultural yields in communal areas of Mudavanhu ward in Masvingo district of Zimbabwe. Rapid rural appraisal was used for data ac-quisition. The method allowed the researchers and local communities to share information in relation to the effectiveness of CARE International’s capacity building strategies. The major components of implemented agricultural recovery programmes were conservation farming techniques, crop packs(seeds and other inputs like fertilizers) and skills development. The results show that the majority of farmers experienced an improvement in productivity of some selected crops due to increased crop hectarage, inputs application intensity and conservation farming skills. The programme’s success was also attributed to its gender inclusive nature.Problems such as late provision of inputs, farmers’ abscondment of training workshops and labour shortage derailed programme implementation.Given the programme’s rate of success, there is need to consider implementation of similar projects in impoverished areas.