294
Musika has capitalised on this previous work in the current partnership by using
agro-dealer networks already established and previously trained in CSA.
To ensure sustainability beyond the life of the project, each partner in the
Zambian consortium is responsible for the areas in which they specialise. For example, PICZ developed the insurance product for farmers, and provide the digital platform for farmer registration. Musika is responsible for farmer mobilization
(sensitising farmers so that they can register for the program) using existing staff
and local structures, while Zambia Open University, apart from coordinating and
leading project implementation, manages the research components of the project.
As in the Zimbabwe partnership described above, there are multiple benefits to this
approach for each partner; PICZ acquires new clientele in the form of smallholder
farmers, Musika Initiatives (which uses a market facilitation approach to link farmers with agribusinesses) mobilises new farmers for their market linkages work.
Zambia Open University benefits from capacity building for their students, field
project management experience and research outcomes.
The consortium aims to reach 60,000 farmers in 2 years. Between 2013 and
2015, up to 75,000 smallholders in Zambia were introduced to weather index
insurance. In early 2017, the Zambian Government announced a policy that made
the purchase of weather index insurance compulsory for all farmers benefiting
from the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).
1
Approximately 1.2 million
farmers will subscribe to weather index insurance as a result of this policy. The
Zambian Government has approached the project consortium to support the
implementation of the new policy, and has adopted their training materials on
CSA and weather index insurance for use by all front line government extension
staff and farmers. Additionally, nationwide efforts to scale up weather index
insurance will draw lessons from the consortium target areas. Government buy
in, although not a panacea to low adoption and limited access to CSA innovations by smallholders, is of paramount importance in the scale up of climate
resilient solutions. Furthermore, the public sector in Zambia plays a key role
in the project via the National Agricultural Information Services (NAIS) - the
source of all technical agronomic information that the consortium in Zambia
intends to disseminate to farmers via mobile phone services during the cropping
season. This creates synergies between on-going public services and upcoming
private/academic initiatives, such as CTA’s work to scale up CRS under discussion. Most importantly, the use of government-approved technical information
ensures that farmers do not get conflicting extension service messages from different service providers.
1 The FISP is the Zambian government’s programme that distributes subsidised agricultural inputs
to small-scale producers of the staple food crop, maize. Started in 2002, the programme benefitted
approximately 1.6 Million farmers by 2017.
M. A. T. J. Kadzamira and O. C. Ajayi
Musika has capitalised on this previous work in the current partnership by using
agro-dealer networks already established and previously trained in CSA.
To ensure sustainability beyond the life of the project, each partner in the
Zambian consortium is responsible for the areas in which they specialise. For example, PICZ developed the insurance product for farmers, and provide the digital platform for farmer registration. Musika is responsible for farmer mobilization
(sensitising farmers so that they can register for the program) using existing staff
and local structures, while Zambia Open University, apart from coordinating and
leading project implementation, manages the research components of the project.
As in the Zimbabwe partnership described above, there are multiple benefits to this
approach for each partner; PICZ acquires new clientele in the form of smallholder
farmers, Musika Initiatives (which uses a market facilitation approach to link farmers with agribusinesses) mobilises new farmers for their market linkages work.
Zambia Open University benefits from capacity building for their students, field
project management experience and research outcomes.
The consortium aims to reach 60,000 farmers in 2 years. Between 2013 and
2015, up to 75,000 smallholders in Zambia were introduced to weather index
insurance. In early 2017, the Zambian Government announced a policy that made
the purchase of weather index insurance compulsory for all farmers benefiting
from the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).
1
Approximately 1.2 million
farmers will subscribe to weather index insurance as a result of this policy. The
Zambian Government has approached the project consortium to support the
implementation of the new policy, and has adopted their training materials on
CSA and weather index insurance for use by all front line government extension
staff and farmers. Additionally, nationwide efforts to scale up weather index
insurance will draw lessons from the consortium target areas. Government buy
in, although not a panacea to low adoption and limited access to CSA innovations by smallholders, is of paramount importance in the scale up of climate
resilient solutions. Furthermore, the public sector in Zambia plays a key role
in the project via the National Agricultural Information Services (NAIS) - the
source of all technical agronomic information that the consortium in Zambia
intends to disseminate to farmers via mobile phone services during the cropping
season. This creates synergies between on-going public services and upcoming
private/academic initiatives, such as CTA’s work to scale up CRS under discussion. Most importantly, the use of government-approved technical information
ensures that farmers do not get conflicting extension service messages from different service providers.
1 The FISP is the Zambian government’s programme that distributes subsidised agricultural inputs
to small-scale producers of the staple food crop, maize. Started in 2002, the programme benefitted
approximately 1.6 Million farmers by 2017.
M. A. T. J. Kadzamira and O. C. Ajayi