Partnerships in Innovation

Partner Farmers

Gender, HIV and marital status, educational level, farm size, and economic situation, are of no relevance to the selection of small-scale partner farmers. Dedication to the principles of biodynamic farming and to the local community, are the most important criteria. The majority of our partner farmers, however, are women as the cultivation of essential oil crops, herbs and spices is traditionally done by women in Zimbabwe and they are already skilled in this type of farming.

KAITE trains its partners in the fundamentals of organic farming on the basis of biodynamic cultivation. Small-scale producers are contracted, trained, and internationally certified, not only to grow and process essential oil crops, herbs and spices, but also to cultivate healthy, staple crops to feed themselves, their families, and extended kin. Drawing upon the indigenous knowledge base that our partner farmers already have, and the key principles of sustainable agriculture; we work closely with them to identify crops that are suitable for their particular area, and thus contribute towards soil amelioration.

It is not KAITE’s role to convince the farmers of anything: our demonstration gardens located at the heart of the training centres, and accessible to all interested partner farmers, are there so that they can see for themselves how productive and economically efficient our approach can be. Nor is it for them to come to us as anything less than partners. It is only through close cooperation that both KAITE and its associates can achieve common goals.

Other Key Partners

Silveira House and Kufunda training centres contribute research, training and expertise in organic farming, as KAITE has organically certified herb gardens at these centres, where its partner farmers are trained. In exchange, Silveira House and Kufunda gain new knowledge and networks with strong local and international partners.

Phytotrade Africa assists KAITE in the development of new products by providing support services, such as advice on regulations (safety, labelling), conforming to standards (organic, Fair Trade, UEBT), production methods, marketing and finished product development; and in turn, gains better international marketing links and a strong local production base.

ZOPPA (Zimbabwe Organic Producers and Promoters Association) is the apex organisation of all farmers’ groups in Zimbabwe involved in organic farming, and advises KAITE on local and international networking. Through its cooperation with KAITE, ZOPPA gains key local partners and new knowledge in tested organic agricultural production methods.

Trust Organic Small Farmers helps KAITE to strengthen its international marketing linkages, and in turn, broadens its membership base to Zimbabwe.