Mozambique’s population is growing at an annual rate of 2.5 percent. This has put pressure on the country’s food resources, which currently cannot meet the increase in demand. Unless prompt strategic measures are taken to increase production rapidly, food aid or commercial food imports on a large scale will be inevitable.
This has put pressure on the country’s food resources, which currently cannot meet the increase in demand. Unless prompt strategic measures are taken to increase production rapidly, food aid or commercial food imports on a large scale will be inevitable. In view of the need to stabilize year-to-year food production, World Renew, with the support of the Canadian government, is implementing a five-year program in five countries—Mozambique, Tanzania, Mali, Bangladesh, and Honduras. The program is called “Sustainable Livelihood Development through Supporting Food Security and Economic Growth Initiative.” The goals are to:
- enhance food security
- stimulate sustainable economic growth; and
- build community capacity to set development priorities and to implement community initiated programs.
Some parts of Mozambique have faced food deficits for more than a decade, primarily as a result of recurring floods, which destroyed crops, as well as droughts, which affected rain-fed farming.
There are about one million small-scale farmers in Mozambique who depend on rain-fed farming and who contribute about 80 percent of the total food production in the country.
World Renew’s food security program in Mozambique is aimed at sharing existing proven and appropriate agricultural technologies to support increased food production. The program also promotes improved water use by introducing farmers to treadle pumps, regarded as an affordable and manageable alternative to the laborious method of watering by hand-carried buckets. Technically this form of pumping is well suited to Mozambique, where small-scale farmers use surface water such as rivers and low-lying swamps or shallow groundwater. In the communities targeted so far, treadle pumps are mostly used for irrigation of community vegetable gardens producing cabbage, onion, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, and green beans.
Sofia Zoconi (33 years old, married), from Magachi community (Cobue), Niassa Province, says:
“We started the community garden in August 2016 with 10 members—six men and four women. Our main motivation was to see how much we could achieve working together as a group sharing experience and knowledge.
Now we are able to work bigger fields in less time, increasing the amount of time we can use to take care of our families and improve our family nutrition. We are also making some economic gains, which are used mostly to invest in the savings groups and start other small businesses.
This project has made our work as women much easier, since crop irrigating is considered a women’s activity. With the treadle pumps we managed to increase the land area under irrigation; we reduced work time (as well as work strain) in comparison with bucket irrigation; and our fully irrigated fields yielded improved crop quality. “Once again would like to thank Diocese of Niassa and World Renew for this opportunity, and I pray they may keep improving people’s lives in the various communities they are working in.” The current community garden projects will also increase in their number of growing cycles, as crops are able to grow faster with full irrigation.”
The current community garden projects will also increase in their number of growing cycles, as crops are able to grow faster with full irrigation.
Learn more about World Renew’s work in Mozambique and consider a contribution today!
