Goromonzi — Johnson Mhaka, 50, an agro-dealer based in Goromonzi, about 40km southeast of the capital Harare, is enjoying robust 2012-13 sales thanks to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) innovative electronic voucher system, which is helping communal farmers access agricultural inputs.
Mhaka, who used to stock mostly groceries at his rural store, has become an authorized dealer in maize seed, fertilizers, agro-chemicals and farming tools such as wheelbarrows, ploughs and hoes.
"In the past two years, when farmers from this area started using vouchers to buy farming inputs, I have been recording relatively high sales and have made it a point to adequately stock my shop at the beginning of the farming season," Mhaka told IRIN.
Food security
"Even though I have always sold agricultural inputs, particularly maize seed and fertilizer, before registering as an agro-dealer with the FAO, the stocks were small because not many farmers came to buy," he said.
The farmers were deterred by the inputs' high prices, as Mhaka bought his wares from Harare and then added his own mark-up.
But the initiative makes inputs and tools more accessible to cash-strapped small-scale farmers. In the "market-based input assistance initiative", farmers are each given US$128 in e-vouchers, with beneficiaries additionally contributing $32.
The system is designed to improve food security among vulnerable households through crop and livestock production, said the FAO in a statement. It also aims "to resuscitate the fragile rural agricultural input supply chain through re-engagement of markets, provision of subsidized inputs... [and] farmers' timely access to inputs".
"Through the voucher system, many more farmers are coming to buy from here," Mhaka said. His client-base has increased from about 90 people - buying mainly 50kg bags of fertilizer and maize seed - to more than 300 this year.
The initiative receives financial and technical support from the UK's Department for International Development (DfID), the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the European Union and Zimbabwe's agriculture ministry, which also provides extension and training services.
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