Project Description

Mount Darwin

Program Details and Objectives:

Continuing the Foundation’s aims to build sustainable communities, the Foundations goal is to commercialise Sesame across Zimbabwe, and be the leader  with IETC Zimbabwe as a buyer and creating leaders from smallholder communities to spread the know-how and economic benefits of growing Sesame. Our projects have increased to include 33 wards in Gokwe and 30 wards in Nyaki with an outreach of up to 10,000 farmers.

Participant Name: Alice Munenura

Participant Age: 60 years old

Participant Gender: Female

Participant Details:

Ms. Munenura currently holds a 6 hectares farm on which her household of 6 reside. She has 4 dependants, 2 of which are of school age and attending high school. She used to only grow maize and Groundnuts, producing on average 5MT of maize and 1MT of groundnuts. On average, deducting crops for personal consumption her annual income prior to joining the sesame program used to be around USD $900.

Participants details in the program:

Ms. Munenura has been participating in the program since the 2015/16 season and possessed no prior knowledge of Sesame. She received an inputs package from IETC Zimbabwe which included 2 bags of fertilizer and 2500 kg. She used these inputs to plant 1 ha of sesame.

Results

Through participation in the program Ms. Munenura attended workshops and training at the Foundations demonstration plots to learn the entire crop cycle from land preparation to harvesting and post-harvesting practices of cleaning and group management with the local Foundation Field Extension Officer (FEO) providing further assistance on hand at her farm when needed. She has further received additional training on land preparation and seed buying this year to enhance her knowledge from last season’s harvest. She has learned that sesame requires a larger amount of land. Due to drought conditions last season, Ms. Munenura yielded only 850 kg receiving approximately USD$420 in additional income after expenses. As a result the sesame crop increased her annual income and improved the food security of her household. She intends to continue farming sesame and has signed up for another inputs package facilitated by the Foundation.

Conclusion:

Ms. Munenura is grateful for the Foundation’s sesame program within the community and believes that the Foundation is a positive presence that needs to remain and grow to include more program participants. The program has clearly had a positive impact on Ms. Munenura and her household helping provide an alternative source of income and improving her livelihood and all those of her dependents.