By Tunomukwathi Asino
CHIMOIO, MOZAMBIQUE – Small farmers in Mozambique are better equipped to sell their produce in markets because of the help they have received from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
IFAD operations in Mozambique began in 1983 and have provided more than US$200 million in financing for 12 programmes and projects in the country.
A country strategic opportunities programme (COSOP) approved in 2011 sets out a framework for the partnership between IFAD and the Mozambican government from 2011 through 2015.
The COSOP builds on IFAD’s experience and lessons learnt from past operations in the country, including notable successes in creating market linkages between small-scale producers and buyers; facilitating the introduction of new technologies and services for fishing communities; setting up savings and credit groups; rehabilitating rural roads for better access to markets and services; and introducing important policy and legislative changes, such as the protection of artisanal fishing.
Some of IFAD’s goals include improving smallholder farmers’ and artisanal fishers’ access to technologies and services that increase productivity.
Another goal is to increase access to and participation in markets for an equitable share of profits by helping to develop economic infrastructure for the conservation, processing and marketing of produce. It also ensures the building of solid and equitable partnerships between small-scale producers and agribusinesses.
IFAD funds have also been channelled through the Rural Markets Promotion Programme (PROMER), which helps small-scale farmers in the northern region of the country, where two thirds of the rural population is poor.
Women are an important part of the target group because of their disadvantaged position in society and in the economy, and because they are often the poorest members of the rural population.
A lot of farmers, mainly women, have made used of the opportunity and have formed co-operatives to selling their produce together, chiefly fruits such as bananas and other indigenous fruits.
Ambassador David Lane, the U.S. Representative to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agencies in Rome, travelled to Mozambique from 7–13 December 2014, accompanied by journalists from Namibia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Swaziland and Tanzania.
Also accompanying Lane were representatives from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).