ZAVSAP - About Us
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Your main contact for the ZAVSAP Network is

Caroline Jacquet
Network Facilitator
Agriculture House - 1 Adylinn Rd, Marlborough
PO Box WGT 390, Westgate
Harare, Zimbabwe
Phone: +263 4 309800/19 ext. 202-3
Cell: +263 912 268296
Email: cjacquet (at) africaonline.co.zw

The ZAVSAP Network is funded by DGCI (www.dgci.be) through VOLENS (www.volens.be).
The ZAVSAP logo is based on a creation by Isheanesu Dondo (ishedondo3 (at) gmail.com).

Why was the ZAVSAP Network created?

Families who farm on small areas of land find it increasingly hard to survive on farming alone. Farming may provide at least part of a family's needs for food, but farmers also need cash: their children are going to school, or they incur medical expenses. Alternative or additional income generating opportunities are needed to support the thousands of poor families who can no longer support their livelihoods from the land alone. The problem they all face is that opportunities for off-farm employment in rural areas are limited.

Agroprocessing and small enterprises, or adding value to primary agricultural produce and selling processed products offer many opportunities: an increase in productivity and crop diversification, an increase in the nutritional value of the diets of farming families, the generation of extra income, and the stimulation of the local economy. The overall potential of agroprocessing is huge. It can reduce wastage, enhance food security, improve livelihoods for lowincome groups and empower women.

However, there are a number of constraints that limit the development of small-scale food processing in Zimbabwe. Entrepreneurs face many challenges: their products don't meet quality and quantity requirements, storage facilities and other infrastructure are substandard, shady middlemen dominate the market and exploit them, farmers don't have processing equipment, they don't understand the demands of their customers, and they lack access to finance, advice and market information.

On the internal market, Zimbabwean farmers have to compete with often cheaper products imported from South Africa and Europe. On the export market, they frequently face trade barriers.

What is the aim of the ZAVSAP Network?

To improve the incomes and livelihoods of poor people, ZAVSAP (Zimbabwe – Adding value to sustainable agriculture produce) is working with a number of local NGOs to improve their support to small-scale farming families in food processing, valueaddition and marketing of sustainable agriculture produce. By offering both technical assistance and business advice, ZAVSAP can make a great difference to their chances.

Together, we strengthen producers' capacities and improve the quality of their products. We encourage farmers to form commodity associations so they are less dependent on middlemen and can demand better prices. We take them through the process of establishing an agribusiness, doing market research, establishing market linkages and using market information and help them access micro-finance.

How does the ZAVSAP Network works?

ZAVSAP supports and strengthens the activities of its partner organisations through:

  • Human capacity building: facilitation of training in Zimbabwe and abroad and of look-and-learn visits for the NGOs' staff, volunteers, contact farmers and beneficiaries in food processing, value-addition and marketing of agricultural produce. The participation in and organisation of fairs is also encouraged.
  • Organisational capacity building: improving the way organisations operate in the field of organisational building and management, financial management and resource mobilisation. Interventions are usually organisation specific. Joint trainings have been organised in fundraising, finance for non-finance managers and leadership development.
  • Networking and wider impact: joint membership in networks and working groups in Zimbabwe and the region around sustainable agriculture, the development of websites and other promotional materials, the development of joint training materials on food processing, and the submission of joint proposals to fund trickle-down trainings and demonstrations and the purchase of food processing equipment, the organisation of joint food fairs and the publication of materials.


Who are the members of the ZAVSAP Network?

The ZAVSAP members are 9 local Zimbabwean NGOs, active in the Mashonaland East, Central and West Provinces. They all assist their beneficiaries to increase production through sustainable agriculture practices, but have realised that ensuring production is not enough, it is important to pay attention to processing and marketing as well.

They are:
 

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