Crop farming and livestock production are the major sources of livelihood for smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe. Most farm animals are reared in low rainfall areas where more than 75% of farmers rely on cereal crop residues as feed supplements.

For 60-year-old Maxwell Machivenyika, farm-life was filled with tedium, drudgery and challenges. To get the job done working on his small farm meant waking up at 4 a.m. daily. Machivenyika has been growing maize, Zimbabwe’s main staple crop, since 1988. But his yields have been poor because of using inefficient farming methods. 

A recent hybrid (virtual and in-person) meeting of more than 50 researchers and representatives of the European Union (EU), national agricultural research system and non-governmental organizations in Zimbabwe, has charted the way forward for the  Improved