Background

Mrs. Beulah Sunenyama was born on 28 December 1979. Her parents had originally moved from Mazowe in Mashonaland Central, Zimbabwe, to settle in the Ganyungu area of Chisina in 1965.They came to Gokwe looking for better soils where they could grow food and cash crops, settling down to grow maize, sorghum and groundnuts, mostly on a subsistence basis. In the 1980’s they started growing cotton as a cash crop. For many years cotton played a major role in the provision of household income needs, however the family was forced to stop growing it in 2014 due to viability problems. Like most other farmers in Chisina, the decision to stop growing cotton was not an easy one. The demise of cotton left the family with only maize and groundnuts, for which there were poor market options – either selling to middlemen at low prices, or to government’s Grain Marketing Board (GMB) where there were usually lengthy payment delays.

“My parents relied on cotton for payment of our school fees and our general upkeep. Cotton was their main cash crop. The fall in prices really affected our livelihood. They unwillingly stopped growing it in 2014, the same year that I got married,” said Beulah.

In 2012 Beulah’s family joined the ‘Promote Intensification and Sustainability in Agricultural Production’ (PISAP) programme which was being supported by Welthungerhilfe (WHH). The programme promoted conservation agriculture (CA), a farming system considered as the most effective way of mitigating the droughts that had become so common in Gokwe South. Although the tillage system was being promoted on grains for food security, it is equally applicable to other crops.  Beulah’s parents, like some farmers in the area, did not immediately join the CA programme because of the stigma the system and high labour demands.

Opportunity

Beulah married Reason Sunenyama in 2014. She started seeking income generating projects after starting a family. Her husband was unemployed with no hope of finding a job in town due to the economic hardships being experienced in Gokwe South. Like many local men, he relied on casual work in the rural areas for income. He friends told her about a market-based programme targeting farmers practicing CA. She was very interested in finding out more.

“I grew up watching my mother taking a leading role in our farming activities, like most rural women in our area. So, when I got married I knew that I had to do the same. I knew my husband would be doing piece jobs like laying bricks or digging wells for others to get cash,” said Beulah. “I therefore decided to take up farming to supplement my husband’s income.”

The programme which Beulah heard about was SIMBA. The rumour became a reality when the local headman and councillor called for a meeting to formally introduce the programme. Beulah chose to participate in the sorghum value chain wherein National Tested Seeds (NTS) would contract farmers to multiply sorghum seed. For Beulah sorghum was not a new crop, having grown up in a family where it was a staple grain. Maize did not do as well in her area because of unsuitable soils and unfavourable climatic conditions

“I was one of the first ten people to join SIMBA in our area. I had some knowledge of how to grow sorghum but got more confident when I was told that I would get extension support,” said Beulah. “This was also going to be our first time to grow sorghum for sale. The promise that NTS would buy the sorghum, and that all we needed to do was deliver our crop to Nyarupakwe Shopping Centre, made me want to participate in SIMBA.”

Profitability analysis

Gross income

Beulah, with support and help from her spouse, started growing sorghum seed. In the 2016/17 season she produced 1 543 kg of sorghum seed from a 0.50 ha plot. This seed was cleaned at the NTS factory, which resulted in a loss of 63 kg, bringing the saleable yield to 1 479 kg.  The NTS price for sorghum was $0.468/kg resulting in a gross income of $688.

Costs

The table below lists many of the materials and services usually associated with smallholder cropping enterprises. In some cases, where there is no cost, the service is still listed to explain how it was funded.

Beulah’s costs were:

• Seed: NTS provided 10 kg SV4 sorghum seed as credit valued at $4.68, which was deducted from her seed delivery at the end of the season.
• Inputs: Beulah used 100 kg of Compound D and 50kg of Ammonium Nitrate (AN) at a cost of $28 and $30, respectively.
• Training and extension: Training and extension is especially important for a seed crop such as sorghum.

The NTS Seed Operations and Marketing Manager managed the contract farming programme, providing farmers with advice and organised inspections by the Seeds Services Department.

• Land preparation services: Beulah prepared the field for (CA) with her family members, including in-laws.
• Labour services: Beulah hired four people to assist her harvesting and threshing sorghum, paying them $50.
• Transport services: NTS sent a truck to collect the sorghum and cowpea crops, which was charged to farmers on a pro-rata basis. The cost to Beulah was $53.99.

Net income

Beulah’s gross income was $688, against total costs of $167, leaving a net margin of $521.

Impact

Beulah and her family have benefitted from the market development work of APT through:

• Introduction of an alternative cash crop: Although sorghum was a staple crop in Chisina, they had never grown the seed commercially. Sorghum seed production worked well for Beulah and her new family. It gave them confidence to stop cotton production at a time when it was no longer profitable.
• Improved Income: Earning income from a peasant crop such as sorghum was highly unusual for Beulah and other farmers who had always grown it on a subsistence basis.
• Increased asset base: Since first harvest in 2015, Beulah has derived reasonable income from sorghum seed
• production which she used to build a four-bedroomed house, buy two cattle, pay school fees and meet with household needs.

In addition to the market development work of APT, Beulah has also benefitted greatly from the other activities implemented by SIMBA including:

• Improved land use: CA taught Beulah how to better manage her fields using compost and nitrogen-fixing legumes. CA has enabled more efficient land use and yields have improved – CA is now widely practiced in all crops.
• Improved lifestyles: Other SIMBA activities focused on hygiene, health, internal savings clubs, broiler production and nutrition gardens. Beulah has benefited immensely from these programmes, and is now rearing guinea fowl.

Beulah would like to expand farming activities in 2018. Depending on NTS requirements, she would like to increase the area under sorghum seed to 1.5 ha, and to increase her yields to 5 tons/ha by  improving agronomic practices.

Sustainability

Overall, NTS’s experience with Chisina sorghum farmers has been good. The company has also been contracting farmers to produce cowpea, which likewise has had encouraging results (see separate report). During the 2016/17 season NTS contracted 51 farmers growing 25 ha of cowpea and 25 ha of sorghum. In 2017/18, the company plans to increase the scheme to 65 farmers, each with 1 ha, to produce 30 ha each of sorghum and cowpea, and 5 ha of mung bean. This demonstrates the company’s confidence and the likelihood that the contract farming programme will continue to flourish in the absence of APT facilitation.