Project Detail

Mpaba Agroforestry Project for Biodiversity Restoration and Protection

Mpaba project is located in Mlambatema village ,ward 4 of Umzingwane district.This is a dry area and food production is only possible where practises of land are ecologically friendly to help sustain the land. Mpaba project was supported by the Forestry Commission especially in ensuring that the project takes off. The other stakeholders that provided them support include Jekesa Pfungwa, DNR, AREX and the Umzingwane Rural District Council.
It is hoped that agroforestry will maximise yields per unit of land .

PROJECT OBJECTIVES
-To ensure that every unit area is put to its potential use giving optimum returns at any given rate
-To improve the degenerated environment by ensuring that land is efficiently utilised
-To conserve the soil , and water resource by consolidating production systems within the same unit area
-To improve the standard of living of the people

PROJECT ACTIVITIES
i) Designing and producing a constitution to guide them in their operations
ii) Conducting a geophysical survey and borehole driilling
iii) Environmental and ecological agroforestry production of fruit trees
iv) Horticultural training and technical training in forest products and enrichment planting
v) Beekeping and honey production

PROJECT PARTICPANTS
The members are drawn from Mlambatema village.

PROJECT RESULTS
The community is expected to benefit in the following way
-supply fruits and tree seedlings from the project area to surrounding communities
- supply various vegetables to surrounding communities
-improve standards of living through selling of fruits and vegetables.
-acquire skills in agroforestry

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Mpaba Agroforestry Project

Country:

Zimbabwe

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

Phase 1

Grant Amount:

US$ 8,747.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 7,500.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 35,050.00

Project Number:

ZIM/92/G31/12

Start Date:

5/1996

End Date:

5/1998

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Notable Community Participation

Members of the group have organised themselves through their local leadership to carry out their planned activities. They have identified the fruit trees and vegetables they want to grow. They have sold fruits to local and nearby communities and schools and have established a nursery and have sold fruit tree seedlings to neighbouring villages. They have participated in the training workshops and monitoring by making suggestions concerning their activities.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

Mpaba project has managed tpo raise income through the sale of fruits and vegetables though this needs to be scaled up so that they realise more income.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

The community has fused their local knowledge with modern methods in raising trees and vegetables and have calculated their production in relationship to water source, type of soil and market.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

The group has understood how their project helps in reducing soil loss and in protecting their environment. Need more strengthening on relating their project to GEF thematic areas.

Gender Focus

The project has taken into consideration gender issues by having an equal representation of men and women.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The standard of living has significantly improved through the supply of vegetables and fruits for household consumption and for sale. The members have been able to generate income for meeting basic needs e.g. school fees for their children. Adoption of organic farming/permaculture has helped in producing better quality vegetables and fruits and in using their land in an ecologically sustainabe manner.

Policy Impact

There is no significant impact on policy.

Capacity - Building Component

Through training and information exchange, the project members have been technically equipped on agro-forestry approaches, tree management,organic farming, water harvesting as well as business planning and marketing. They are now in a position to advise others on how to start and run an agricultural project.

Project Results

The following activities were accomplished by the project:

1) PRODUCTION OF CONSTITUTION
The group managed to produce a constitution to guide project implemementation. This was done with assistance from Forestry Commission.

2) GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY
The geophysical survey was successfully done by members and the borehole was drilled to a depth of 50 metres. The borehole has a yield of three cubic metres per hour (600gph)

3) CAPACITY BUIDING THROUGH TRAINING
The Mpaba project members were trained in nursery production, orchard mantenance, leadership and conservation. They are proud of the knowledge gained. This knowledge has been put into use in their homesteads as each family has established nurseries and orchards. They are also running a viable nursery project and are selling the seedlings to other members in their locality.

4) ESTABLISHMENT OF GARDEN
The garden was established with a total perimeter of 1000 metres. A borehole was sunk and a bush pump fitted.The water tank was not completed.

5) SUSTAINABILITY OF THE PROJECT
The orchard is in a good state and is well looked after. A fireguard was made around the orchard to protect the trees from fire. Fruit production will go on for the next twenty years. The nursery component has been doing well and is well supported by the project members. Linking the nursery to homestead development motivates the project members because they benefit at both the project and individual level.

Vegetable and honey production has a lot of potenntial but the project members have not reached maximum production. Amounts raised as income from the garden includedUS$222.22

5) FRUIT PRODUCTION
The members are harvesting fruit from the project and on average they harvest six buckets of mangoes and one bucket which has a 20 litre volume was sold at US$3,57 and each sale giving an estimated value of US$21.42 (Z$1 499 400) at an exchange rate of 1US$:Z$70 000. Besides fruit production, the upper portion of the garden has been reserved for vegetable production. The crops grown include butternut, okra, tomatoes, roundnuts, small grains and sunflower.However, the vegetable production did not really do well because water conveyance from the borehole to the garden section is not well developed. The project plans to construct a canal from the borehole to the garden.

6) PROJECT SUSTAINABILITY
The nursery component has been doing well and is well supported by the project members. Linking the nursery with homestead development motivates the project members because they benefit at both project and individual level.

Vegetable and honey production has a lot of potential but the project members have not reached maximum production. Amounts quoted from the garden included US$222.22 - (Z$ 15 555 400)
at the current exchange rate of 1US$:Z$70 000.

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