Chivasa Norman
International Centre of Non-violence, Peacebuilding programme, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa.
Department of History, Unit of War and Strategic Studies, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Jamba. 2019 May 20;11(1):526. doi: 10.4102/jamba.v11i1.526. eCollection 2019.
In developing countries, food production challenges continue to persist, despite interventions at household levels such as input provision to address farmers' resource constraints and training in conservation farming to improve land use and management by farmers. In Bikita District of Zimbabwe, concerns over the viability of conservation farming and input support services in helping out subsistence farmers to mitigate food production challenges remain unresolved. This research, therefore, evaluated the sustainability of support services offered by the Sustainable Agriculture Trust to subsistence farmers taking Ward 13 of Bikita District as a case study. Data collection involved two qualitative methods, namely structured interviews and focus group discussions, with 32 household heads comprising 18 women and 14 men. Results showed that the capacity by subsistence farmers to continue practising conservation farming using retained maize, sorghum and cowpea seed varieties and still produce better yields even after the Sustainable Agriculture Trust's exit justify the hypothesis that conservation farming is a sustainable food production intervention. This study therefore concludes that the proficiency by subsistence farmers in Ward 13 of Bikita District carries the implication that training household heads in conservation farming means developing more subsistence farmers capable of producing their own food even amidst unpredictable rains, heat waves and shortening rainfall seasons.
food production; food security; subsistence farming; sustainability; conventional farming.
在发展中国家，尽管采取了家庭层面的干预措施，如提供投入以解决农民的资源限制问题，以及开展保护性耕作培训以改善农民的土地利用和管理，但粮食生产挑战依然存在。在津巴布韦的比基塔区，关于保护性耕作和投入支持服务在帮助自给农民应对粮食生产挑战方面的可行性问题仍未得到解决。因此，本研究以比基塔区第13选区的自给农民为案例，评估了可持续农业信托基金为他们提供的支持服务的可持续性。数据收集采用了两种定性方法，即结构化访谈和焦点小组讨论，对象为32位户主，其中包括18名女性和14名男性。结果表明，自给农民有能力利用留存的玉米、高粱和豇豆种子品种继续进行保护性耕作，并且即使在可持续农业信托基金退出后仍能实现更高产量，这证明了保护性耕作是一种可持续的粮食生产干预措施这一假设。因此，本研究得出结论，比基塔区第13选区自给农民的熟练程度意味着，对户主进行保护性耕作培训意味着培养更多能够在降雨无常、热浪和降雨季节缩短的情况下自己生产粮食的自给农民。
粮食生产；粮食安全；自给农业；可持续性；传统农业。
