Food security in the South East Lowveld - EU-PARSEL

Last update: 30 May 2013

Public-Private-Community Partnerships to improve food security and livelihoods in the South East Lowveld and Mid Zambezi Valley

Dates: 2008-2011

The Project encompassed the Chiredzi District in the South East Lowveld of Zimbabwe with a focus on the Sangwe Communal Lands and Chizvirizvi Resettlement Scheme adjacent to the Save Conservancy, Malilangwe and Gona re Zhou National Park. To inform this process and develop linkages for broader application, satellite projects have also been under taken in Mbire and Nyaminyami districts in the Dande and Omay Communal Lands located in the Mid-Zambezi Valley.

Action focused on the attainment of five key results which are:

Operational small scale irrigation schemes

Three small scale irrigation projects namely Tshovani, Dendere and Rupangwa with a total of (400Ha) which were derelict before EU PARSEL interventions were rehabilitated after a comprehensive and holistic assessment of them and building the capacity of irrigation scheme committees.

 These are directly benefiting close to 2000 individuals and they produced over 500MT of crops in the 2010 agricultural season with a total economic value of USD$ 410 000.00.

Improved crop production and natural resource management from conservation agriculture practices

This component of the project was implemented in Mid-Zambezi. Four Conservation Agriculture units serving 400 farmers were developed. During the 2010 agricultural reason 680MT of agro-produce were harvested in dry-lands through CA principles.

Supply of legal wild meat to rural communities

The main objective of this component was to document wild meat usage, examine its impact on wildlife and test the feasibility of wild game meat production. In 2010, ten thousand beneficiaries through 23 bush meat committees established around the Save Valley conservancy benefited from the bush meat cropping exercise through which75.5MT bush meat was produced. The project also extended support for the establishment of an anti-poaching unit within the Save Valley Conservancy. The project also complimented Human Wildlife Conflict mitigation processes in partnership with FAO.

Improved livestock heath, production and marketing

The objective under this component is to improve access to market and health care services, for sustainable livestock production. A survey of disease prevalence in livestock wildlife was undertaken with DVS and PAWMA. Twelve dip tanks in Sangwe Communal Lands and Chizvirizvi Resettlement Area were rehabilitated. A market chain Survey main constraints and opportunities was undertaken. Bovine tuberculosis was isolated in buffalo at the boarder of South Africa in the GLTFCA. Movements of cattle and wildlife across the boundaries of protected areas happen regularly with limited contacts.

Enterprise development opportunities identified and initiated in the above results areas.

The acronym PARSEL, meaning Partnership within South East Lowveld, promotes partnerships and linkages in line with the Public-Private-Community Partnership concept. A Project Management Unit (PMU) based in Chiredzi, was established to manage the implementation of the project with the assistance of cooperating partners.

 Thematic Technical Working Groups were established for each of the projects components to promote PPCP linkages for enterprise development. Community based organizations were established for each component enabling communities to form meaningful partnerships with Public and Private Sector Institutions. Beneficiary communities were also linked to Private and Public sector and PPCP enterprises were developed.

The Action’s overall objective which sought to achieve improved food security and health of local communities through diversified livelihood strategies and equitable, sustainable natural resource management was attained. Adaptive co-management systems to improve livelihoods, food security and management of natural resources in the Project Area were also developed and implemented in line with the Actions’ specific objective. 

Last update: 30 May 2013