Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Monday 26 august 2019
Coffee growers help reforest Mozambique's Mount Gorongosa

By ANDREW MELDRUM tending shrubs, say park
Associated Press officials. The processing of
MOUNT GORONGOSA, the coffee beans could
Mozambique (AP) — A create seasonal employ-
wiry woman, Querida ment for thousands of local
Barequinha intently sorts residents, said Jordan.
through the coffee beans Mozambique has not been
laid out on racks to dry in one of Africa's major coffee
the sun, plucking out any producers like Ethiopia and
that are cracked or mis- Kenya, but Mount Gorong-
shapen. osa's unique climate makes
"I like growing coffee be- it very promising. Already,
cause it earns cash that international coffee giant
goes right into my pock- Nespresso has shown inter-
et," she said, with a dart- est in promoting the park's
ing smile. "I can buy soap, coffee production, said
cooking oil, schoolbooks Jordan.
and other household items. The action is already evi-
It's very useful." dent on Mount Gorongosa,
Barequinha has been grow- where families ford rivers
ing coffee for four years on carrying as many seed-
the upper slopes of Mount lings as possible, including
Gorongosa, where clouds balancing some on their
frequently cover the rain- A woman holds coffee beans at a coffee plantation in Mount Gorongosa, Mozambique Sunday, heads. Hillside fields have
forest at the top. Now that Aug. 3, 2019. rows of scooped out spots
a peace agreement has Associated Press where coffee seedlings will
been signed between Mo- soon be planted. "Coffee
zambique's government part of the national park's "Coffee thrives in this unique that this year produced 8 trees have shallow roots
and the Renamo rebels, innovative plan to boost rainforest. It produces tons of coffee beans. Some and do well in the topsoil
whose military headquar- the incomes of people liv- much better income than 300,000 new trees will be here. Trees have deeper
ters are nearby, she is plan- ing around the park as well maize and it encourages planted this year and an- roots and fix nitrogen into
ning to plant more coffee as revitalizing the environ- farmers to re-grow the rain- nually for the next 10 years, the soil, so they do well
trees. ment. forest. It is a win-win devel- said Jordan. growing together," said
A mother of seven, Bare- Mount Gorongosa rises opment for the farmers and "With peace we will have a Jordan. Cashews, honey,
quinha said she is encour- 1,863 meters (6,112 feet) the environment, so this quantum jump in our pro- pineapples, avocados,
aging her family to join her above Mozambique's cen- is great for the park," said duction," said Jordan, ges- citrus and litchis are other
in coffee production. tral plains and the tropical Matthew Jordan, associ- turing to a plot of seedlings crops being encouraged
"I'd love to see others in hardwood forest of its up- ate director of the Agricul- in bags about to be plant- that will simultaneously
my family grow coffee," per rainy regions is being tural Livelihoods Program of ed. "This will put Gorongosa boost the incomes of lo-
she said, in chiGorongosi, stripped by local farmers Gorongosa National Park. coffee on the map. Our cal farmers and enhance
a dialect of the Sena lan- who want to grow maize. Coffee could produce 10 famers will get paid fair Gorongosa's environment.
guage. "It offers us a source Coffee is a crop that can times more income than prices, premium prices for "Our aim is to promote
of hope." stop that deforestation, say maize or other subsistence their shade-grown crop." agro-forestry, high value
Barequinha is one of 400 park experts. Shade-grown crops grown by local farm- There are more than 800 crops," said Jordan.
Mozambican farmers pro- coffee shurbs produce bet- ers, said Jordan. Renamo rebels in three Short and animated, Vaida
ducing coffee that earns ter tasting coffee beans, Twenty years ago Goron- armed camps at the top Frangene, is a vocal sup-
them valued cash incomes so the trees are planted gosa park was derelict as of Mount Gorongosa. Their porter of the park's coffee
while at the same time re- among indigenous trees. a result of the country's presence restricted the growing enterprise. "I start-
stores the rapidly eroding Areas that had been de- devastating civil war and expansion of coffee and ed as a volunteer in the re-
rainforest of Mount Goron- nuded of trees now boast much of its wildlife had other agriculture. But the foresting program and then
gosa. With peace on the verdant slopes of coffee been poached. The park promise of earning ready I started growing coffee. I
mountaintop there are trees interspersed with local is now reviving thanks to a cash from coffee may en- earned cash for it last year
plans to dramatically scale trees such as albizias and partnership between the tice many of them to give and there is more to come
up coffee production, as other crops. Mozambican government up their weapons and start this year," she said.q
and the Gorongosa Res-
toration Project, which is
supported by American
philanthropist Greg Carr.
The organization allocates
more than half of its an-
nual budget on supporting
the communities that live
around the park.
The Gorongosa coffee
project is ramping up its
productions, spurred on
by the peace agreement
signed this month (August
1) between Mozambique's
Women process coffee beans at a coffee plantation in Mount government and rebels. Women sort coffee beans at a coffee plantation in Mount
Gorongosa, Mozambique, Sunday Aug. 3, 2019. It the past four years it has Gorongosa, Mozambique, Sunday Aug. 3, 2019.
Associated Press planted 40,000 coffee trees Associated Press