*3.5.1 Contract farming based model*

The first variation of the contract farming model was observed under Technoserve —an NGO operating within Zimbabwe—. The model is characterised by a lead firm —Linkflora/Lingfield Farm— working with 100 SHFs in 10 irrigation schemes in the Midlands region of Zimbabwe. This model has a field officer on each irrigation scheme who is responsible for production and the day-to-day running of the horticulture programme. The field officers from the Irrigation Schemes report to a manager who manages all the schemes. It is anticipated that after the programme the SHFs will pool funds and continue to hire the field officers for services which are critical in continued export production.

The second variation of the contract farming based model was observed at Sondelani ranching in the Matabeleland region. Sondelani Ranching is working with over 25,000 SHFs as a lead firm in a tomato contract farming scheme in Matobo district, Matabeleland south province. Sondelani provides inputs to farmers who pay back when they sell their produce to the lead firm. The SHFs are grouped into production capacity groups: the best being Platinum with 13,000 farmers followed by Gold with 13,000 farmers and then Silver with 1,000 farmers. The SHFs produce and feed into the Sondelani tomato processing plant that processes 150 tonnes of tomatoes into puree per day (commissioned by the President Mnangangwa in 2018). Sondelani also works with 2 commercial farms who produce about 10% of their raw produce while 90% comes from SHFs. The tomato puree is sold locally and exported into the SADC region. Sondelani key informants explained that Farmers are trained through a subsidised training programme (training costs 450 and farmers are asked to pay ZW\$100 for a 3-day training) run by Sondelani's foundations for farming division. Sondelani has put in place a social capital based safeguard system where members —mostly women— are organised into groups that observe production rules. Any offender is dealt with by the group and has to make amends. Failure to which the group has power to dismiss the member who does not follow the rules. If a farmer sells to other markets they have to make sure repay their loans of inputs to Sondelani on time and in full.
