Our Work
Selected projects and engagements. Each case reflects our commitment to rigorous, practical research that serves agricultural communities.
Trade Intelligence for Zimbabwe Exporters
Trade Zimbabwe (tradezimbabwe.com)
Challenge
Zimbabwe's agricultural exporters lacked accessible, actionable market intelligence to identify opportunities and navigate trade barriers.
Approach
Compiled and analysed trade flow data, commodity pricing trends, and market access requirements. Combined quantitative trade statistics with stakeholder interviews across priority value chains.
Outputs
Market intelligence platform content, trade data analysis, strategic export opportunity briefs.
Outcome
Strengthened the evidence base available to Zimbabwean agricultural exporters, supporting informed market entry decisions.
Ethnoveterinary Plant Efficacy Trials
University of Zimbabwe / EU-SAPP / EU-ADAPPT
Challenge
Smallholder farmers in semi-arid Zimbabwe relied on indigenous plants for tick control, but lacked scientific validation of efficacy and safety.
Approach
Conducted multi-year in vivo and in vitro trials across Nyanga and Muzarabani districts. Applied both laboratory bioassays and on-farm participatory trials with smallholder cattle keepers.
Outputs
9 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapter (Springer 2020), validated acaricidal plant protocols, toxicity profiles.
Outcome
Established scientific evidence base for heritage-based tick control, providing smallholders with validated low-cost alternatives to synthetic acaricides.
Livestock Production Incubation Model
IDRC
Challenge
Graduate youth in Zimbabwe faced barriers to entry in livestock production and feed manufacturing, lacking both business models and technical capacity.
Approach
Contributed to developing and evaluating a business incubation model combining technical livestock production training with entrepreneurship support and feed manufacturing skills.
Outputs
Incubation model design, monitoring framework, capacity assessment reports.
Outcome
Model demonstrated potential for replication across other agricultural youth employment programmes.
Pesticidal Plants Technology Networks
EU-OPTIONs Consortium
Challenge
Proven pesticidal plant technologies were not reaching smallholder farmers at scale due to weak innovation-to-extension pathways.
Approach
Research fellow role supporting outreach, farmer training, and knowledge exchange across the OPTIONs network (2014-2017). Bridged laboratory research with field-level extension activities.
Outputs
Farmer training materials, on-farm demonstration protocols, extension learning products, community engagement reports.
Outcome
Strengthened dissemination pathways for natural pesticidal technologies in southern African farming systems.
Community Feed Formulation Training
Zimbabwe Council of Churches / University of Zimbabwe
Challenge
Communal farmers lacked access to affordable, locally formulated animal feeds, reducing livestock productivity and farmer resilience.
Approach
Designed and facilitated community-based feed formulation workshops, combining nutritional science with locally available ingredients and participatory learning methods.
Outputs
Training materials, feed formulation guides, workshop facilitation, farmer capacity assessments.
Outcome
Farmers gained practical skills in feed formulation using locally available resources.
Scaling Communal Farmer Resilience
Welthungerhilfe MELANA Project
Challenge
Communal farmers in Matabeleland needed scalable, evidence-based approaches to heritage animal health care to improve livestock resilience.
Approach
Collaborative research developing locally available anti-tick products from indigenous plant species. Combining phytochemical analysis with farmer participatory trials.
Outputs
Product development protocols, efficacy data, farmer training content, community engagement reports.
Outcome
Ongoing: building an evidence base for scalable, heritage-based livestock health products.
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