Page 112 - AFAP Success Stories 2020
P. 112

About FAR                                 The Food Security Program through Adaptation and Resilience to
                                                      Climate Change (FAR) is financed by the Government of Sweden,
                                                      managed by Swiss Contact and implemented by AFAP. The objective
                                                      is to bring inputs closer to producers at affordable prices.

                                                      According to Sérgio Ussaca, AFAP’s representative in Mozambique,
                                                      one of the major objectives is to ensure food sufficiency.

            For many years, the inhabitants of Mutindiri, in Chibabava district, have experienced dreadful privations caused by natural
            and other phenomena such as water shortages and problems with seeds and other agricultural inputs. In order to achieve
            productivity, the population needed to create extensive areas for cultivation. In the past, people had to travel about 400
            km to buy a few grams of seed and wait for it to rain.

            With a total of 10 682 inhabitants, Mutindiri can produce cereals and tubers whenever there is rain. Now, the beneficiary of
            Mutindiri’s inputs shop, Manuel Muchanga, said that by setting up shops to sell seeds and fertilizers in that area  AFAP and
            its partners have innovated the  agrarian cycle and minimized the people’s suffering.

            “I don’t have words to express my satisfaction. I even thought it was a dream when AFAP’s staff approached me saying that
            they wanted to finance the process of selling inputs,” said Manuel Muchanga. He added that, before obtaining the shop, he
            was selling seeds in a small stall with no conditions for conservation.





                                                      Before  the  introduction  of  inputs  shops  in  Chibabava  district,  the
                                                      government had set up agricultural machinery parks in the Mutindiri
            Mechanization                             region.

            Begins to Make                            Since its establishment, few farmers have rented the machines due to

            Sense                                     seed scarcity of other inputs.
                                                      The  tractors  became  rusty  due  to low  demand.  However,  when
                                                      AFAP introduced the inputs shops, Chibabava’s director of economic
                                                      activities, Helder Amisse said that demand for machinery began
                                                      to increase. “We note that the inputs shops implemented by AFAP
                                                      have completed the production value chain. With this support, our
                                                      producers will now be able to move onto another economic stage,”
                                                      he added.

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