In Mozambique, 80% of the rural population depends on farming as primary income. To obtain food security, the small scale farmers must play a major role. Food security, food production and environment protection are closely linked and are important not only for the farmers directly ...

affected, but also for the society at large. The farmers need to learn better farming methods, and they need to be integrated in the economy of their country.

With climate change having more and more consequences, the environment is threatened at a new level, and the struggle for the immediate food security and for making a surplus food production intensifies.

Farmers Clubs

ADPP Mozambique therefore sees the empowerment of the farmers as key to development in the rural areas. With this in mind, ADPP is implementing the “Farmers Club Program” which provides farmers with the skills to increase their crop yield, market it more effectively and reinvest in the production in order to produce surplus. As with all ADPP programs, it has interventions in basic health, education, literacy and human rights which support the overall development of the farming community.

ADPP programs train small-scale farmers in sustainable agriculture practices such as conservation farming, and equip the farmers with knowledge they can use to adjust to the changing conditions. As an integrated part of the training, the farmers get organized around exploring and sharing water resources, securing inputs and marketing of their produce. General knowledge and skills within nutrition, health and community development are also included. This concept is called Farmer’s Clubs.

The aim is to provide the farmers with such knowledge and organization that they can respond to the needs of their families and communities today, increase their income, and become integrated in the market economy.

In many Farmer’s Clubs the majority of the farmers are women. Thus the Farmer’s Clubs can also be regarded as a gender program, empowering the women, and it includes many club activities, which also focus on the well-being of the whole family with regard to water and sanitation, nutrition, health and education.

The agriculture training of the farmers depends on the local conditions: some concentrate on crop husbandry, others on animal husbandry, some with irrigation, others pure dry-land farming. The farmers are organized in groups of 250 farmers with one project leader, who provides the agriculture training in practice and theory. The project leader also facilitates the organization of the farmers and trains them in self-organizing, so that lasting structures are built among them in the project period.

 

Cooperation with the Government

National agriculture extension services are integrated in the programs for mutual benefit – the farmers learn from the extension workers, and the extension system is reinforced in a dynamic exchange.

ADPP Mozambique, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the provincial governments, intends to expand its program to the same point of development as that of the ADPP Teacher Training Program, reaching the same target numbers and contributing to national objectives on a similar level. The idea is that the Farmers program will influence national policy regarding the sustainability of agricultural interventions and intensive small-scale farming productions. Farmer’s Clubs will also respond to the pressure placed on the environment through pollution and unsustainable farming techniques. It will provide concrete models to promote sound conservation farming practices and tree planting in local communities.

ADPP Mozambique recently signed a Letter of Agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture for mutual collaboration on different issues. At the provincial level, ADPP is invited regularly to participate in preparation of plans. At the district level, ADPP works with the directorates of Economic Activities and the extension workers of the government. The projects Monitoring and Evaluation are made by the head of Rural Extension in the MOA.