ICRISAT News

Figure: The KOPIA team surveying agricultural machinery at Matopos Center, Zimbabwe. Photo: N Muchiwanga, ICRISAT.

An agricultural program from the Republic of Korea has recently hailed ICRISAT’s role in innovating and disseminating technologies and practices that improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe. During a visit to Matopos Research Center, Zimbabwe, Dr Choi Young Sup, Director, Korean Program for International Cooperation in Agricultural Technology (KOPIA), commended ICRISAT’s outstanding efforts in modernizing production and processing of small grains for the benefit of farmers in the drier parts of the country. He called for ICRISAT to partner with the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Center (SIRDC), KOPIA’s vehicle for their R&D efforts in Zimbabwe, to develop cheaper, energy-efficient equipment that the local farmers can afford.

Dr Sup said, “KOPIA realizes the need to make cheaper threshers, blowers, and dehulling and milling machines that communal farmers can afford. Mechanized processing of small grains by smallholder farmers has huge potential in saving time, cost and labor for communal farmers. It also promotes the growing of small grains, since some farmers stopped growing small grains owing to their labor- intensive processing.”

Dr Sup also said availing cheaper dehulling and milling machines will afford communal farmers a wider choice of nutritious dishes that can be made from small grains for feeding their families and income generation from selling products such as flour, cookies and scones. He emphasized the need to design power-efficient machinery.

Dr Martin Moyo, Senior Scientist – Farming Systems, and Country Representative, Zimbabwe, ICRISAT, briefed Dr Sup during his visit to the Matopos Research Center. He described ICRISAT’s activities and how they aim to address the challenges of poverty, hunger and malnutrition in Zimbabwe. Dr Sup was accompanied by Mr Agrey Mbaya, KOPIA’s Program Manager. Dr Moyo led the delegation on a tour of the research facility.

Dr Hapson Mushoriwa, Principal Scientist and Regional Breeding Theme Lead, ICRISAT ESA, showed the delegation some of ICRISAT’s recently acquired state-of-the-art-machinery including a belt seed grader, threshers and seed blowers customized for the particular mandate crops of ICRISAT. He spoke about how the equipment had increased operational efficiency by saving time, money and labor while giving more accurate data, a key component for accelerated crop improvement.

See more: https://www.icrisat.org/south-korean-agricultural-program-hails-icrisats-role-in-zimbabwes-smallholder-agriculture/