1	Testimony from Zimbabwe Farming God’s Way Champions 3-7 September 2007 Alan Norton
2	Contents Current situation in Zimbabwe CF in Zimbabwe FGW in Operation Joseph
3	Zimbabwe Worst inflation in the world 80% unemployment Price controls → empty shelves Tremendous shortages: basic foodstuffs, fuel Ailing services: electricity, water, telecoms
4	Zim (Cont’d) 2006/7 terrible drought esp. in south 800,000MT production vs 2,000,000MT requirement Mat South: crop failure? Starvation? (yet no visible evidence); no goats Mash. West: generally poor harvests; RSC = 5.5MT from 2.5ha Tsholotsho: no 20 year olds Yet life continues…..
5	How do we survive? “Make a plan” Diaspora: remittances (food, cash) >50% of households Many Zimbos in RSA, Botswana, UK… Coping strategies e.g. reducing the number of meals eaten Selling off assets, livestock
6	Conservation Farming by NGO’s and GoZ Tremendous uptake with much success! 6,000 → 24,000 in one yr More being trained (117 last week) Focus on quality rather than quantity Big push by some NGO’s on mulch “Basin tillage” rather than CF Interesting debate on termites: friend or foe??
7
8	Survey Across 12 Districts
9	Increase in CF Beneficiaries 12 Districts in south
10	Factors affecting adoption of CF techniques Access to Inputs Fertilizer Seeds for rotations Management of crop residues NGO support Extension access/support Experience with CF practice Agro-ecological location
11	Why not apply crop residues?
12	Variation in pH with depth (data pooled for 38 farms across 8 districts)
13	Variation in Organic C with depth (data pooled for 38 farms across 8 districts)
14	Impacts of CF on Infiltration (data pooled for 38 farms across 8 districts)
15
16	Other Crops 2006/2007
17	Total labor requirements per ha (pooled across 12 districts)
18	Cost of Producing 1 Tonne of Maize NRIII
19	FGW in Operation Joseph
20	OJ stats 2,556 → 9,600 families 82 sites in 8 rural provinces Av 110 families per site Farmer Groups – open to whole community Regular on-going training Adoption is a process – min. 3 years
21	Impact Lives changed Food security, even for elderly & sick Reach The Nation training conferences 4x per year: huge spiritual component, serving the wider church (long term impact) Increasing adoption as evidenced by increasing numbers.
22	Trading & Marketing OJ: facilitate maize contract between Private company & farmers. Guranteed price (currently 5 times GMB price) Payment: seed, fertiliser, cash, less expenses (transport, grain bags…) >600MT traded (US$60,000) Aim: farmers become commercial, break dependency syndrome.
23
24