The eMKambo Knowledge Centre provides agriculture information and advice to farmers and the agriculture industry on markets, suppliers, weather, topics ranging from crop and livestock production to new research and technology, government programs and services, and farm business management. Farmers are connected with resource agents and specialists who are knowledgeable about the agriculture industry and other agricultural value actors across the country and region. The Centre adapts and communicates the latest knowledge to the agriculture sector, allowing farmers and horticulturalists to produce the best quality products for a world class food production.
Farming is a profession where development is moving very quickly and where acquisition and implementation of new knowledge and new techniques constitute the difference between success and failure. This places the eMkamboKnowledge Centers in a key role of:
Bridging the Gap: The Centres make knowledge ready for use. Centres take the results from research and process and convey them, making it possible for the advisers of the advisory centres and thus eventually the farmer to use the results in operations. This mainly takes place through our unique professional database.
Collation of both historical and real-time documents and data to function as a knowledge repository and a monitoring hub;
Analysis through both modelling and targeted research to facilitate decision-making; and
Use through dissemination and communication products to facilitate outreach, stakeholder engagement and demand-driven knowledge
Developingand maintain a number of IT tools for management and support for decision-making.
Advisory services: The Knowledge Centre has a number of Associate outstanding experts within many agriculture-related fields. This makes the Knowledge Centre an ideal service station for the advisers at the advisory centres, who are thus able to get quick and concrete answers.
Handling operation and service tasks:The Knowledge Centre is responsible for a number of centralised service tasks. Market supply recording and output control is administered from the Knowledge Centres. Various data is collected and administered at the Centre and disseminated to relevant stakeholders through mobile phones and eMkambo website.
Partnership fostering: The Knowledge Centre facilitates joint initiatives among agriculture actors and fosterspartnerships for identified flagship projects that can easily be used as platforms to transfer knowledge and skills to the farmers and extension officers at the grassroots levels.
Widen Visibility: The Centers give partners a wider visibility in terms of extension and marketing as well as drawing them closer to clientele within their environs and beyond the county.
Location
The main eMkambo Knowledge Centre is located in Mbare High Density Suburb of Harare next to MbareMusika/Produce Market is an integral part of the setup, given its key function in supporting other centres nationwide. Other Centres have their physical presence in other markets of major cities, towns and growth points to reachout all farmers and stakeholders throughout the country. The combination of our decision support systems and positions gives the farmer better information to make the right action in a given situation.
The key objectives of eMkambo Knowledge Centres are:
To create and manage knowledge resources, including the analysis and modelling of diverse data sets relevant to management of the produce markets. This enables the identification of sensitive hotspots/ critical reaches, along with selection of critical market quality parameters for monitoring;
Design and foster research and innovation, including identification of knowledge gaps for research and need for new ideas, supporting targeted research and spurring and nurturing needed innovation (e.g. for low-cost and effective agriculture sector technologies); and
Facilitate stakeholder dialogue, by designing messages and programs for public involvement and building partnerships with Insttutiona of higher learning, Central and Local Government Agencies, NGOs, and Private Sector/ Industry.