In the sun-scorched fields of Zimbabwe’s southern Mwenezi District, where rainfall is rare, a quiet revolution is sprouting - one tiny sesame seed at a time. For years, subsistence farmers like Kastina Sibanda gambled on maize, only to harvest disappointment.
“For many seasons, our maize crop would fail, and we would barely fill a bag with grain,” says Sibanda of the crop she produced on her 2-hectare plot, and which hardly met the family's needs. “We struggled financially and had very little food to eat in our home.”
Last year, sesame offered a new path. Drought-tolerant and in growing demand abroad, the crop has become a lifeline for thousands of Zimbabwean farmers. “Our yields are better,” Sibanda says. “And we get paid for the crop - which means we can provide for the family.”
As she looks over her sesame field, the green plants sprouting white flowers, Sibanda knows her harvest will travel more than 12,500 kilometres beyond Mwenezi. After processing, the seeds’ golden oil will add a delicate finish to meals served on dinner tables in Japan.
The transformation underway in Sibanda’s field is part of a broader resilience-building initiative across five districts in Zimbabwe, funded by the Government of Japan. A partnership between the World Food Programme and local nongovernmental group Sustainable Agriculture Technology (SAT), the project supports small-scale farmers in growing sesame for the market, developing the infrastructure, value chains and capacity to do so.
“The main driver for our involvement was to improve the ability of smallholder farmers to manage shocks while enhancing their food and nutrition security,” says WFP Programme Officer Bezel Garedondo. “Sesame is climate-resilient and gives farmers an alternative when maize or sorghum fail.”
Rather than delivering aid, the project is boosting trade, Garedondo and others say. By linking smallholder farmers to export markets, it is giving them an opportunity to build successful livelihoods.