Awareness meetings advance mechanization for Sanyati sorghum farmers

FARM P3 awareness meetings are helping farmers across Zimbabwe understand how mechanization services and aggregation can strengthen market access, reduce labour bottlenecks and improve grain quality.

Awareness meetings under the Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission Pillar 3 (FARM P3) are creating new opportunities for mechanization and stronger market linkages across Zimbabwe’s sorghum-producing districts. Through equipment demonstrations and the introduction of a mechanization service provision model, farmers are learning how shared access to machinery can reduce labour constraints while improving grain quality and enabling delivery to structured markets. 

At a recent awareness meeting in Sanyati district, 319 participants attended, including 122 women and 36 youths. Farmers engaged with machinery suppliers, agribusinesses and development partners while learning how service provision models enable communities to access mechanization without requiring every farmer to invest in equipment individually. 

The meetings are also helping identify organized farmer groups capable of strengthening aggregation and investing in mechanization. In Neuso Village, Ward 09, Tamuka Group has emerged as a strong example of how collective action and strategic investment can transform sorghum production into a structured rural enterprise. 

Tamuka is now a registered Agricultural Producer Group under the Smallholder Agriculture Cluster Project, comprising 30 members. Each member cultivates five to six hectares of sorghum and collectively the group supplies grain to Delta, Zimbabwe’s main sorghum offtaker. Instead of selling individually, members aggregate their harvest and deliver coordinated truckloads to the market. 

From individual production to organized aggregation 

A few years ago, Tamuka members produced sorghum individually and marketed their grain under another farmer’s registration. While they received seed and delivered grain, they had limited control over pricing, logistics and long-term planning. 

As production volumes increased, sometimes reaching two truckloads per season, the farmers recognized the need for stronger coordination. Members began contributing toward transport costs and lending small amounts to one another at an interest rate of ten percent, gradually building group savings. 

In 2025, they formalized their collaboration by registering as the Tamuka Agricultural Producer Group and opening a group bank account. Registration strengthened their credibility and enabled them to engage buyers directly. 

Addressing the threshing bottleneck 

Despite rising production, threshing quickly became a major constraint. During peak harvest periods, the group could have up to 10 tonnes of sorghum waiting for processing while competing for the few service providers available in the district. 

“We would wait for weeks just to access a sheller,” explains the group’s secretary, Monica Sibanda. 

These delays resulted in late deliveries and delayed payments. During the awareness meetings, equipment demonstrations show farmers how machines such as threshers can address these bottlenecks by accelerating post-harvest processing and improving grain quality. Seeing the technology and understanding the business case for mechanization encouraged Tamuka members to invest in their own thresher. 

With their own machine, the group now processes grain on time and delivers promptly to Delta. “Now we can sell on time and get paid on time,” Sibanda says. Timely threshing has improved the group’s cash flow and strengthened quality control, enabling members to consistently deliver cleaner grain that meets Delta’s standards. 

Service provision as a business opportunity 

The thresher has also become a valuable business asset. After servicing their own members, Tamuka hires the machine to surrounding farmers, charging one 50-kilogram bag of grain per tonne processed. 

This reflects the mechanization service provision model promoted by CIMMYT through the initiative, where farmer groups or entrepreneurs provide machinery services to surrounding farmers while generating income. For Tamuka, the thresher now provides an additional revenue stream that strengthens the group’s finances and positions them as a local mechanization service provider. 

The benefits extend beyond sorghum. With improved income stability, members are diversifying their livelihoods. Sibanda has drilled a borehole and now runs 100 broilers per production cycle, while the group has invested in free-range chickens to expand income generation. Other members are expanding into goats, turkeys, guinea fowl and small hatcheries. 

Tamuka’s experience reflects the broader goals of FARM P3 to strengthen mechanization service provision in high-potential sorghum districts such as Sanyati. By linking organized farmer groups with equipment suppliers, financial institutions and structured markets, the initiative is helping build a stronger mechanization ecosystem. 

As awareness meetings continue across Zimbabwe, similar models of aggregation and service provision are expected to emerge, helping farmers turn mechanization into both a productivity tool and a sustainable business opportunity.

AUTHORS
Shila Shikulo
SOURCE
Originally published on cimmyt.org
PHOTOS
© CIMMYT