Thematic Area 1: Poverty, Health, Food and Nutrition Security

Zimbabwe has in recent times had one of the highest levels of food insecurity in Sub Saharan Africa regardless of the outcome of the agricultural season. More than 70 percent of the population relies on subsistence and rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods and food and nutrition security. The high reliance on subsistence rain-fed agriculture renders a large majority of the rural population vulnerable to climate-related shocks and seasonal stressors. According to Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) reports, these households have few sources of income other than agriculture and spend more than 54 percent of their budget on food. 

In addition, the country faces a huge burden of micronutrient deficiencies such that anemia and Vitamin A deficiency affects 31.5 percent and 21.2 percent of children under five years respectively, while 23.9 percent of women are deficient in vitamin A and 25.8 percent of women are anemic. The Government of Zimbabwe recognizes that agriculture is one of the key priority sectors in achieving sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction and food and nutrition security. However, frequent droughts plus limited resilience, inadequate resource allocation to key drivers of agriculture growth and sometimes inconsistent policy actions associated with the agricultural sector make it difficult to achieve the stated goals.

Against this background, creating synergies among agriculture, nutrition, health, and the other sectors that make up the entire food system—with consideration for gender differences in the process—can lead to great advances in tackling hunger and malnutrition. With a large segment of the rural population relying on Government-run or donor-based seasonal food and non-food safety net interventions for their food and nutrition security, it is important to carry out action-research to generate lessons to guide national policies aimed at innovatively dealing with food and nutrition insecurity in the country without overburdening the National Treasury.

Research priorities: Research under this thematic area will focus on providing answers to the following policy objectives/issues:

1. Generate income and decent employment to feasible optimum levels, with a special focus on women and youth. 

            Indicative research areas are as follows:          

• Identify promising opportunities and at what stage of the value chains for job creation for young men and women in different provinces and disaggregate findings by district;
• Identify capacity building and skills gaps for Agricultural Colleges, Technical and Vocational Institutions to strengthen their curriculum to resonate well with the needs of youth and women; and
• Research on strategies to promote agro-tourism.

      2. Assure national and household food and nutrition security in a sustainable and resilient manner

           Indicative research areas are as follows:

• Research on alternative crops and livestock value chains which are resilient in a particular province or district to assure household food and nutrition security;
• Provide evidence on whether national food and nutrition security implies household food and nutrition security; and
• Research on strategies to reduce post-harvest food losses.

     3.  Increasing production and productivity to ensure household self-sefficiency and generate surplus for industry consumption and             exports

          Indicative research areas are as follows:

• Research on alternative efficient production methods of key crops and livestock;
• Trends and drivers of consumption patterns of local varieties and commodities;
• How to sustainably incentivise the adoption of climate smart agricultural practicies including conservation agricultural practices such as Pfumvudza and other low input sustainable agricultural practices;
• How to strengthen agricultural input access at community level;
• Identify markets (local and international) for traditional grains; and
• Identify opportunities and strategies for value addition at farm level to reduce post harvest losses and linkages with industry.

 

      4.  What are the options for improving diet quality for the poor and vulnerable households? 

          Indicative research areas are as follows:

• How can the country sutainably strengthen the gains of bio-fortification projects and upscale innovative strategies to propel the rapid adoption of bio-fortified crops;
• Research on alternative quality diet sources at community level including indigenous crops; and
• Research on maize and small grains value addition and uses with a focus on what incentives need to be put in place to boost the number of products that can be derived from these commodities.

   5. Improving crop and livestock productivity and raise the gross agriculture production value.

       Indicative research areas are as follows:

• Mapping existing crop and livestock value chains within each district which are creating value to farmers;
• Mapping alternative feed sources for livestock at community level; and
•  Research on sustainable feed production and formulation at community level.