Our Partners

Small-Scale 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.

KAITE trains its partners in the fundamentals of organic farming on the basis of biodynamic cultivation. The adherence to strict and rigorous regional and international standards of organic farming (EU-organic certification, DEMETER-certification), empowers the farmers to take personal advantage of the ever-growing organic market.

Small-scale farmers are contracted, trained, and internationally certified, not only to grow organic cash crops and raise livestock, but also to cultivate healthy, organic 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: we do not want to force farmers to use what we consider sustainable innovative agriculture. Hence the purpose of the demonstration gardens located at the heart of the training centres, and accessible to all interested partner farmers. 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.


The role of Silveira House and Kufunda Kufunda

Silveira House and Kufunda are currently our main partners in cooperating with and training the farmers. KAITE’s gardens are on their premises and training is done at Silveira House and the Kufunda centres. Local agricultural unions (Unions’ Umbrella Project), extension services, governmental tertiary institutions (University of Zimbabwe), and NGOs, such as the LEAD Trust, are further valuable resources, which enable KAITE to be a part of the sustainable agricultural sector in Zimbabwe.
 
Silveira House
Their contribution includes:

• Identifying partner farmers
• Training facilities for partner farmers
• Securing equipment to help farmers overcome traditional barriers of entry
• Forming networks that lead to concentric circles of innovative, sustainable, educational, developmental financial and institutional prosperity for all involved.