ARDA’s Mobile Grain Trucks Bring The Market To The Village
The dust rises long before the trucks come into view. In a Mwenezi village, women and men wait beside neat piles of white sorghum and pearl millet, stacked under plastic on the edge of a dusty road. Instead of paying for a kombi to the nearest depot, they have brought their harvest by scotch cart and ox-drawn sled. Today, the buyer is coming to them.
This is the new mobile traditional grains collection programme rolled out by the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA), targeting more than 6 000 contracted farmers in Chiredzi and Mwenezi districts of Masvingo Province. ARDA trucks are now driving deep into rural wards to pick up traditional grains directly from villages, a move designed to boost Zimbabwe’s food security and promote climate-resilient agriculture.
Under the programme, smallholder farmers producing sorghum and pearl millet deliver their harvest to designated rural collection points. From there, ARDA ferries the grain to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), turning once-distant depots into an accessible, guaranteed market for some of the country’s driest wards.
How The Mobile Collection Programme Works
The concept is simple but powerful: bring the market to the farmer instead of forcing the farmer to chase the market.
ARDA has identified local collection points across Chiredzi and Mwenezi – usually business centres, schools, or easily accessible village clearings. Farmers then deliver bagged sorghum and pearl millet, often using scotch carts or wheelbarrows from nearby homesteads. Once enough grain has been assembled, ARDA trucks arrive to collect and transport it to GMB depots.
FFA Explainer:
Traditional grains – such as sorghum, pearl millet, and finger millet – are crops that have long been grown by African communities, especially in dry regions. They are more tolerant to drought and high temperatures than maize, need less water, and are rich in nutrients, making them important for both climate resilience and nutrition.
This logistical shift is already changing the economics of small grains. Farmers no longer have to hire private transport or lose days trying to move a few tonnes of grain to distant depots.
“In the past we used to find our own transport, which was very expensive, but now we just use our scotch carts to take our grain to collection points close to home,” one farmer said.
“We are really grateful to Government for coming up with this initiative through ARDA. We never thought it possible to have trucks coming to collect our produce,” added another.
Cutting Costs, Cutting Losses
For many farmers in the Lowveld, the cost of transport has long been a hidden tax on production. A bumper harvest could quickly lose value once hiring a truck, paying loaders, and making multiple trips to the GMB were factored in. Some farmers chose to sell to middlemen at lower prices simply to avoid the hassle and cash out quickly.
The ARDA programme turns that script on its head. By centralising collection close to homesteads, the initiative slashes direct transport costs and saves time, allowing farmers to focus on land preparation, livestock, or off-farm income rather than long days on the road.
ARDA Masvingo Provincial Head, Jonas Chinyavada, said the approach is not only easing access to markets, but also preventing grain from rotting in remote granaries.
“We are bringing the market to the farmer. This reduces post-harvest losses and promotes small grains as drought-resilient crops. We are anticipating producing at least 2.5 tonnes per hectare and expect to deliver about 37 000 metric tonnes to the GMB. As a province, we are on course to achieve our target of producing at least 45 000 metric tonnes of traditional grains,” he said.
FFA Explainer:
Post-harvest losses occur between harvest and consumption or sale – during drying, storage, transport, or marketing. For grains, this can be caused by poor drying, pests, mould, spillage, or delays in getting produce to market. Reducing these losses can boost food availability without planting a single extra hectare.
The mobile collection model speaks directly to Zimbabwe’s National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), which emphasises rural industrialisation, food security, and climate resilience. By absorbing grain into formal markets quickly, the programme also strengthens national stocks at a time when climate-induced droughts are becoming more frequent.
6 000 Farmers, 15 000 Hectares, One Clear Signal
More than 6 000 farmers are currently contracted under ARDA in Chiredzi and Mwenezi, cultivating traditional grains on 15 000 hectares. The Authority says it plans to expand both the number of participating farmers and the total hectarage next season.
Those figures, while regional, send a clear national message: small grains are no longer side crops. They are central to the country’s food security strategy.
Government has repeatedly stressed that expanding sorghum and millets is critical for climate adaptation. These crops survive in shallow, sandy soils and under high temperatures where maize fails. They can be used for human consumption, stockfeed, and industrial purposes, and they store well when properly handled.
ARDA’s mobile collection programme reinforces that policy stance by giving farmers confidence that if they plant small grains, there will be a reliable buyer – and the buyer will come to them.
“This is really impressive because it cuts costs and leaves us more energised to continue working hard on our farms,” one farmer said, watching bags being loaded onto an ARDA truck.
Learning From Masvingo: A Zimbabwe-Wide Lesson
What is unfolding in Chiredzi and Mwenezi carries lessons for other dry districts such as Beitbridge, Bikita, Tsholotsho, and parts of Matabeleland.
In Gutu District, for example, farmers’ unions have been lobbying for similar village-based collection points for small grains contract farming, arguing that transport bottlenecks undermine Government pricing incentives. While details differ from place to place, the logic is the same: rural logistics can make or break food security.
The Masvingo programme shows how a parastatal like ARDA can use its fleet and planning capacity to unlock value for smallholders. Applied wisely, this model can support national ambitions under the AU Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), which both call for resilient, inclusive food systems.
Training, Nutrition, And Climate Resilience
The trucks are only one part of the story. As they move from ward to ward, they are backed by ongoing training for farmers on production and storage practices for traditional grains.
Government says the push for small grains goes beyond hunger relief. Promoting these crops strengthens climate adaptation and improves nutrition, particularly for children, women, and the elderly who are vulnerable to hidden hunger.
FFA Explainer:
Hidden hunger refers to micronutrient deficiencies – such as lack of iron, zinc, or vitamins – that may not show as empty plates, but weaken immune systems, reduce school performance, and increase health risks. Many traditional grains are richer in key minerals and fibre than refined maize-meal.
Nutritionists often highlight that sorghum and pearl millet can be used for porridge, sadza, traditional beverages, and value-added products like breakfast cereals and snacks. With the right processing and marketing, they can feed both rural households and urban supermarkets.
For women and youth, who form the backbone of smallholder agriculture, reliable markets can open doors to small businesses in threshing, shelling, aggregation, and processing. Village-based collection points can double as hubs where young people offer weighing services, packaging, or even mobile money payments for farmers.
Reducing Risk For The Smallholder
Risk has always haunted smallholder decisions. Plant maize, and a drought can wipe out the crop. Plant small grains, and you might struggle to find a buyer or a fair price. The ARDA mobile collection programme reduces at least one of those uncertainties.
By absorbing 37 000 metric tonnes of traditional grains for delivery to GMB – with a provincial target of 45 000 metric tonnes – Masvingo’s farmers are sending a clear message: if the market is guaranteed and accessible, they will respond.
That response aligns with the ambitions of national programmes that encourage climate-smart cropping and conservation agriculture. Small grains fit neatly into these packages: they perform better with moisture-saving techniques and can be intercropped with legumes to improve soil health.
For a Chiredzi or Mwenezi farmer, the mobile collection point becomes more than a buyer. It is a sign that their labour carries weight in the national food chain.
Running Through To August – And Beyond
The mobile collection exercise will run until August, covering the peak post-harvest period when grain is ready and farmers are deciding what portion to sell, store, or keep for seed.
By easing the transport burden during these critical weeks, the programme is likely to influence cropping decisions for the next season. If farmers trust that ARDA and GMB will be there again with trucks and ready cash, more households may shift additional hectares from vulnerable maize to drought-tolerant sorghum and pearl millet.
For now, in villages across Chiredzi and Mwenezi, the evidence is already visible in the dust clouds on the horizon and the smiles as trucks pull away, fully loaded.
The piles of bagged grain left in the wake of those trucks are more than statistics – they are a quiet insurance policy against the next failed rainy season, and a sign that rural logistics, done right, can move an entire country closer to food security.
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