Mozambique – Cooperative Development Program (CDP)
Strengthening Agricultural Systems through Expert Volunteers
As a country ravaged by 450 years of Portuguese colonization, a 12-year civil war and destructive floods in 2000 and 2001, Mozambique has struggled to find its political and economic footing. In 1997, ACDI/VOCA launched an $890,089 Cooperative Development Program (CDP) to strengthen Mozambique’s agricultural systems through person-to-person volunteer technical assistance at the grassroots level. Agriculture is an important part of Mozambique’s economic base, employing 83 percent of the population. Strides in agricultural development have only recently been made, but Mozambique’s macroeconomic performance has improved dramatically.
Concluded in 2004, the USAID-funded CDP supported association development, agribusiness planning, production and marketing of high-value niche products, and rural microfinance. By the project’s end, ACDI/VOCA had sent 36 American, British and Brazilian volunteers to work with local associations, agribusinesses and support institutions. During the first phase of the project alone (1997-2002), there were 1110 male and 1031 female direct beneficiaries and well over 16,000 male and 15,000 female indirect beneficiaries. The subsequent two-year phase centered on the development of materials and tools to be used with innumerable smallholder farmer beneficiaries throughout central and northern Mozambique.
CDP worked in the five center-north provinces of Sofala, Manica, Nampula, Tete and Zambezia, concentrating most of its efforts along and around the Beira Corridor. Much of this assistance was targeted at women who, despite their dominant role in agriculture, generally have little control over household resources or decision making due to social traditions and limited education opportunities. Female technical assistance providers were used as a way to reach out to Mozambican female farmers. Mozambican respondents to a survey conducted at the end of the project showed that the household incomes of 94 percent of assisted males and 98 percent of assisted females had improved in 2004.
In 2004, a successful off-season vegetable production program showed a gross return on credit disbursed to be 711 percent, and each participating member’s sales averaged $589 for four to five months of work.
Through a series of volunteer assignments, ACDI/VOCA helped local bee-keeping associations to make the transition from traditional, environmentally destructive tree bark hives to Kenyan top bar hives. This change has enabled the beekeepers to manage their hives, resulting in better quality and increased production. The improved honey quality led to higher prices and a 425 percent growth in yields. Collective marketing allowed beekeepers to reduce transportation costs and raise the average profit per liter of honey sold by 250 percent.
CDP produced a wide range of business training manuals, developed by volunteers and staff for entrepreneurs with basic levels of formal education, in addition to illustrated leaflets and brochures in Portuguese and local languages focusing on specific areas of technical assistance designed for semi-literate entrepreneurs. These publications were distributed freely to other development organizations including USAID partners, educational institutions and government departments for use throughout the country.
ACDI/VOCA also worked with the Provincial Farmers’ Unions in Sofala and Manica Provinces, assisting and advising elected officers as they sought to improve management practices and establish sound operating systems. Manuals outlining the responsibilities for each position were produced and distributed to provincial and district level unions and associations throughout the center-north of Mozambique.
ACDI/VOCA sourced domestic and export markets for a number of agricultural products. Birdseye chilies, traditionally cultivated for domestic use and as land boundaries, were recognized as a profitable cash crop through the collaborative efforts of ACDI/VOCA and the Geneva-based NGO, Food for the Hungry International. Similarly, ACDI/VOCA worked with a local NGO, Kwaedza Simukai Manica, to train ginger producers along the Mozambique-Zimbabwe border to construct dryers and establish links with European buyers.
CDP staff members provided training and technical assistance to support the development of a business community in the center-north of the country. Through partnerships with agricultural colleges, the Mozambique and Zimbabwe Chambers of Commerce, local NGOs, producer associations and businesses within the region, ACDI/VOCA played a central role in bringing together the various stakeholders. ACDI/VOCA organized and co-hosted several regional trade exhibitions that promoted business links, provided valuable market information to producers and traders, and directly led to a number of contracts among participating enterprises.
Currently, ACDI/VOCA is implementing Cooperative Development Programs in Russia, Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay.