The grant, signed on Wednesday, will offer support though a crop and livestock input assistance programme.
It is part of an Agricultural Inputs Provision Programme for 2012/13 and is set to benefit 60 000 smallholder farmers in 20 districts in Manicaland, Mashonaland East and West, Matabeleland North and South and Midlands province through market-based input assistance.
The initiative will also target farmers in the most food-insecure districts of the country.
The funds will be channelled through the UN Food and Agriculture Organization over the next 12 months, with FAO providing technical guidance.
As part of the programme, smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe will be able to access cropping or livestock inputs of their choice, in addition to training and extension support.
The inputs will be delivered through district agro-dealers and livestock fairs, which will inject cash into the rural economy.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development, Ngoni Masoka, welcomed the initiative, saying it would go a long way in improving agricultural productivity while aiding the country's economic recovery efforts.
“Timely provision of agricultural inputs, particularly to the smallholder sector, is an essential ingredient for improving agricultural production and is key to unlocking the capacity of smallholder farmers to improve productivity.
“This support will go a long way in complementing government’s efforts in supporting agriculture as part of the broader economic recovery strategy,” said Masoka.
As part of the programme, DFID, AusAID and FAO are also seeking to contribute to wider efforts to reduce poverty and chronic malnutrition in Zimbabwe.
DFID Head in Zimbabwe, Jane Rintoul said the programme would go a long way in assisting farmers who were hard-hit by poor harvests that characterised most parts of the country in the last summer farming season.
"We are mindful of the significant increase in food insecurity and wish to support farmers with a package of crop or Iivestock inputs, which we hope will make them more resilient in the coming year. DFID Zimbabwe – in its Operational Plan – has committed to achieve a sizeable reduction in the number of people who are food insecure,"
said Rintoul.
She added that small holder farmers had a huge potential to contribute towards food security, hence the need to support this sector.
Post published in: Agriculture