Bulawayo, Zimbabwe — Agriculture sustains millions of people in Zimbabwe, serving as a vital source of both food and income. But climate-related pressures affecting land, crops, rainfall patterns, and increasing pest outbreaks are threatening smallholder farmers' harvests, leaving them food insecure.
Scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in the capital, Harare, have teamed up with government researchers and smallholder farmers to conduct farming trials in rural areas to adapt to climate change. Their innovations include improved crop varieties that are resistant to diseases and drought and sustainable farming practices.
CIMMYT has been running more than 20 farming trials known as mother trials in Madziva, Chavakadzi and Hereford in Mashonaland Central Province since 2004.
The farmers, who are in groups, grow crops in their communities using conservation agriculture practices with the support of CIMMYT and the guidance of its scientists.
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The farmers grow different crop varieties and use different methods of pest control and seeding. For instance, as part of the trial, the farmers grow maize using direct seeding, where the seeds are planted directly into the growing spot following conventional ploughing and ripline planting, a conservation agriculture practice in which seeds are planted using a specialised planter. The farmers compare crop performance and yields.
Dr Christian Thierfelder, a Principal Cropping Systems Agronomist at CIMMYT, says these mother trials are important learning sites where different conservation agriculture practices, cropping options, and soil management approaches are tested under real smallholder farming conditions. "Across these sites, the work focuses on understanding how conservation agriculture performs under different agroecological and seasonal conditions, including rainfall variability, soil fertility status, and farmers' resource levels," he tells IPS.
"The trials also help generate insights on productivity, soil health, and the feasibility of scaling recommended practices in communal farming areas."
Melody Kamudyariwa from Kasukuwere Village in Madziva, a 2-hour-drive from Harare, has been conducting the trials for the past 15 years. The organisation provides her with inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, and chemicals.
The 58-year-old mother of five records her observations and shares them with the scientists and the other farmers. "Some crop varieties perform better under direct seeding, and others under rip-line planting methods," she says, pointing to a rain gauge in the maize field she uses to record the depth of rainfall.
"Use of specialised planters under the rip-line planting method saves labour and time."
Levy Mufuka from Pindukai Village in Shamva, about a three-hour drive from Harare, is harvesting enough to feed his family and has excess for sale from his trials.
"I sell maize to the state-owned Grain Marketing Board. Last year, during drought, I got a good harvest," he says while looking at his crops, which are in a doughy grain stage. "I look after my family and pay for labour."
Last year Zimbabwe received erratic rains because of drought.
This year Mufuka is expecting a better harvest, as the rains were better.
The farmers practise crop rotation to improve soil fertility, mulching to conserve water, and zero tilling to reduce soil disturbance in some fields. Other than maize, they also grow soybeans and cowpeas, which provide nutrients like nitrogen to soil.
Dr Tariro Gwandu, head of the Agronomy Research Institute under the Ministry of Lands, says science and research are important because they inform the government's policies on agriculture. "We do research, and when we get results, we share them with our policymakers. And then they can make decisions for our farmers and country in terms of the direction in which our agriculture goes," she tells IPS during an interview at a government-owned Henderson Research Institute in Mazowe, just outside Harare.
Thierfelder says research is a key enabler, allowing for in-depth investigations over an extensive period to understand crop yields, soil health, and water-use efficiency in a changing environment. "CIMMYT's long-term conservation agriculture experiments have provided a strong scientific foundation for conservation agriculture in Zimbabwe. The evidence generated over the years has shown tangible benefits, including improved productivity, more resilient farming systems, better soil fertility management and, in many cases, improved household incomes," he says.
Gwandu says extension officers under the Lands ministry play a key role in cascading research results to the farmers in rural areas. "For some of the research, it starts on the station, like this one. We do the research, we get the funds, and then we take the same experiment to the farmers. That is an on-farm experiment," she says.
"We repeat the same type of experiment on the farm while the farmers observe, and then they can get information on what works. They can choose from the experiments they are also taking part in. We also work with agriculture extension officers who guide the farmers."
Thierfelder says after generating results, an equally important part is ensuring that the knowledge reaches farmers in a practical and accessible way. "The mother trial approach is useful because it creates local learning hubs within farming communities. Farmers are often more likely to trust and adopt practices when they can see them working under conditions similar to their own. Knowledge, therefore, spreads not only through formal extension systems but also through peer-to-peer learning, observation and community-level exchange," he says.
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With the funding cuts in the Global South, research in the agriculture sector is under threat.
Thierfelder says resource mobilisation remains one of the major challenges, given that long-term agricultural research requires sustained investment, especially when the goal is to generate robust evidence over multiple seasons and across different locations.
He says continued support is essential not only for maintaining trials but also for strengthening farmer engagement, extension linkages, and the scaling of promising practices.
Though conservation agriculture has shown agronomic benefits, adoption is not automatic, as many farmers face constraints related to access to inputs, labour availability and equipment in a country with a struggling economy.
"In some cases, households may understand the benefits of improved practices but still cannot adopt them fully because of cost or risk," Thierfelder says.
"While the science is strong, the path to widespread adoption depends on continued collaboration, investment, and support systems that respond to both climate and livelihood realities."
IPS UN Bureau Report
