Page 107 - AFAP Success Stories 2020

Ana Páscoa Lucas: Shortening the Traveling

Distances to Casa Nova

In the past, farmers from Casa Nova had to travel partners showed me how to develop a business and be
approximately 400 km to Chimoio in Manica, or to the city prosperous without harming anyone. These are lessons
of Beira, Sofala province, to buy seeds, which sometimes that we are also passing on to other members of our
had no germination power. community.”
Ana Pascoa Lucas, who is a beneficiary of the inputs shop,
said that FAR project is greatly benefiting the smallholders
in the family sector since she believes the community has
suffered a lot due to traveling long distances.

“During the time I was a seed seller I could see how much
the farmers suffered. They traveled long distances to get
seeds they needed,” she explained.

Ana Pascoa Lucas, beneficiary of the inputs shop in Casa
Nova, said that at least 6000 farming families in her region
would have their traveling distances shortened.

“I know this area very well. Many farmers go from here to
the city of Beira to buy a few kilograms of seed. Now the
hardship will cease. People will have more time to take
care of their fields and will be able to save the money they
would have had to use for bus fare,” Lucas explained.

She said that the training sponsored by AFAP allowed
her to understand business in a more professional way
and allowed her also to improve her profit margins.
“Before working with AFAP, I had been developing my
commercial activities, including selling seeds, but I did
business in an empirical way. Fortunately, AFAP and its

105