Cristina Pulseira is leading a session with her neighbors. Digging up the soil to show them the difference from one side of her farm to the other, she holds warm, soft soil, almost like compost, in one hand; in the other hand, the soil is dry, closer to dust. Her farm is right off the road, and everyone can see it as they walk by. Her demonstration plot is thriving, even in the drought.

“I try to bring as many people here as possible to show the difference,” she says. Until people see it for themselves, no one wants to try the improved seeds that have led to her improved harvests.

Pulseira is known as a lead farmer, training her neighbors on conservation agriculture techniques. Simple changes like crop rotation and minimal soil disturbance, as well as covering the soil with mulch and grasses, can mean the difference between 30-kilogram and 135-kilogram harvest bags. That was Pulseira’s maize harvest last year — she harvested 135 kilograms from her demonstration plot compared to only 30 kilograms from her traditional plot. For beans and soy, she harvested five times as much from her conservation agriculture plots.

Using conservation agriculture techniques was key, but so was investing in improved seeds — clearly marked along her plots with ZM521 Phoenix signs, which she shows to her neighbors.

“We want more Phoenix here,” she says, meaning the Phoenix Seeds Co. improved seeds. Like “Kleenex,” the company’s name has become synonymous with its product.

Phoenix Seeds, a local Mozambican company, began partnering with the organization NCBA CLUSA and the USAID SEEDS project in 2014. Scaling up the private sector seed business is considered a key factor in improving yields and incomes for farmers in Mozambique.

Of the 90,000 tons of seed planted in Mozambique every year, only 10 percent is certified seed. The remaining 90 percent is simply grain retained by farmers from one year to the next, with no guarantee of yield potential or fertility. Low use of certified seeds is one of the largest factors in Mozambique’s low agricultural productivity.

The SEEDS project raises private sector investments from two Mozambican commercial seed companies, including Phoenix Seeds in Zambézia province, to provide expanded access to quality certified seeds, inputs and agricultural services for 10,000 smallholder farmers in northern Mozambique.

That certified seed can mean the difference of 500 kilograms of harvest a hectare to over 2 tons, according to Kevin Gifford, Phoenix Seeds founder. With such obvious benefits, why haven’t farmers been using the certified seed? The problem has been access.

On average, Mozambican farmers need to travel 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the nearest seed store. Yet, when they arrive, the store has likely sold out. If available, the seed is frequently old, a low-yielding variety or uncertified, and the product is not packaged in “smallholder friendly” bag sizes appropriate for smaller farms. Farmers are unlikely to have enough funds to purchase the whole inputs “package,” which, in addition to the seed, includes fertilizers and other products needed to optimize the effects of investing in certified seed.

Seeing a need for high-quality seeds in Mozambique, Phoenix Seeds formed in 2002.

“Where Phoenix Seeds is quite unique is that we are primarily a farmer who has identified a real problem for other farmers and himself, and then gone into the seed business to rectify that problem,” said Gifford, who started the company in Mozambique after moving from Zimbabwe.

Simply growing certified seed did not solve the problem of getting it to the farmers. To get the seed from seedling farm to warehouse to market to smallholder and ultimately to growing on farms required addressing the logistical challenges in rural Mozambique.

“For us, what NCBA CLUSA brought to the table was something that we were already investigating, but we didn’t have the means or the full idea of how to fulfill that. And that was how do we get our extension training into the remote areas; how to get the seed sales to the farmers,” said Gifford.

The partnership developed several innovations to get quality seeds into the hands of farmers including seed fair marketing campaigns, radio programming and demonstration plots. But the key piece was training agro-dealers, local community-based entrepreneurs who could aggregate orders, market seeds in small seed stores and support themselves off income from seed sales. The best agro-dealers were farmers who not only showed entrepreneurial skills to sell product, but who were also respected by their peers as being good farmers.

“I think the strongest issue with regards to sustainability is allowing not only the farmers, but the entire input chain of supply to be self-reliant and private and self-sustaining,” said Gifford.

“Creating an environment where entrepreneurs actually make a sustainable living by supplying the inputs means that the farmers themselves, by purchasing improved inputs commercially and still making a profit, break the cycle of aid handouts,” noted Gifford.

Connecting small entrepreneurs to private firms like Phoenix is being called a win-win for both sides. Phoenix was able to better understand smallholder farmer needs and develop smallholder-friendly seed packets based on farmer feedback, and rural farmers could finally access quality product.

Real business is happening today. One agro-dealer, Fátimata Silva Fernando, converted a section of her husband’s clothing store to sell Phoenix Seeds to local farmers, bringing more diversity to the local corner store.

Another, Lidia Gaspar, is also a community midwife, exemplifying the model of working with trusted community members who offer a range of goods and services in areas where they are most needed.

“This is one of those classic pebble-in-the-water ripple effects. As you create the trust and the understanding in a very small concentrated area, suddenly the idea will radiate out and it will be exponentially accepted and adopted by much more people,” said Gifford.

Pulseira walks around her plot with the Phoenix ZM521 maize seeds, pointing out the strength of the stems. With the extra income from her farm last year, she bought concrete to finish her house. She’s confident in her farm, knowing she used certified seeds. “It was worth the investment,” she says. She already has plans to buy goats this year.

Making plans for the future seems natural for both farmer and seed company.

“We want to sustain our own business, but we want to make sure that the farmers are going forward. Because if they’re going forward, we’re going forward and that’s where we get the win,” said Gifford.

Phoenix Seeds and Oruwera, another local seed company partnering with USAID in Nampula province, have sold over 50 tons of seeds to date, impacting yields and incomes for over 2,000 farmers.

About the Author

Sarah Crozier is a communications associate with NCBA CLUSA. Follow her at @sarahcrozier and @NCBACLUSA to see more of that organization’s work.

This story was originally published in the November/December 2016 issue of FrontLines, USAID’s bimonthly online magazine.

While the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to limit Last Mile Entrepreneur (LME)’s movements and prohibit ambulant sales of agriculture inputs, NCBA CLUSA’s PROMAC II project, funded by the Government of Norway, has found new and innovative ways to help last mile inputs retailers market their produce.

One good example comes from Rumbidzai Ngonhamo, a Last Mile Entrepreneur from Mozambique’s Manica District. The use of digital marketing via SMS and other communication channels has always been a component of NCBA CLUSA’s technical assistance package. But until recently, the practice was limited to LMEs recording cellphone numbers and, at most, sending text messages with new stock alerts.

The COVID-19 pandemic began to change this. Supported by PROMAC II field staff, a group of dynamic and solution-focused LMEs created WhatsApp marketing groups to more actively engage clients in the marketing process. Rumbidzai’s WhatsApp group has grown to 65 members.

Initially, Rumbidzai saw her WhatsApp group as simply a way to continue informing her clients of her products and prices when face-to-face contact was difficult. But there were more benefits in store. Her group turned out to be solid evidence of PROMAC II’s consumer-based approach to marketing—one that engages clients as co-designers rather than merely consumers. Rumbidzai’s group members don’t feel like they are being marketed “at.” Instead, they are part of a group of like-minded producers. The WhatsApp chat not only provides a central location for Rumbidzai to share information on her products, but also serves as a dynamic platform that enables members to share experiences and best practices, and ask questions.

Since the group includes technical staff from two major inputs companies (Seed Co and CureChem), farmers can engage directly, in real time, with private sector firms and receive specialized technical support regarding agrochemicals. They can share photos of plants and request help in diagnosing and treating pests and diseases, find out where they can buy products, and share direct feedback with firms. As a result of the feedback from Rumbidzai’s WhatsApp group and similar groups, CureChem began producing smaller packs of army worm treatment to meet smallholder farmers’ needs.

As Rumbidzai’s sales increased, she was able to save and purchase a motorbike to facilitate home deliveries of inputs, delivering on credit to her more trustworthy clients. Being in constant contact with her clients in the community, rather than behind the counter in her shop every day, made it easier for her to monitor her clients’ debts and ensure their repayment, so she can, in turn, repay her suppliers.

Last year, PROMAC II helped 40 of the project’s 130 Community Based Service Providers (CBSPs) in Manica to set up similar WhatsApp groups. For some, the smartphone technology has been a challenge, limiting their communication with others who have a smartphones. Still, 26 of the 40 LMEs currently manage active WhatsApp groups, and PROMAC II staff believe that the success of these initial groups will encourage other LMEs to reassess their workflows to incorporate new technologies and adopt innovative marketing approaches.

Then NCBA CLUSA’s PROMAC II project, funded by the Government of Norway, recognized Janeiro’s potential. Project staff began to build his capacity for input sales by investing in his business. They gave his store a fresh coat of paint and installed a TV screen to play instructional videos on conservation agriculture and GAPs.

Project staff also helped develop his business skills through training in business and inputs marketing. They established a demonstration plot next to his store and linked him with markets, including major input suppliers and smallholder buyers through PROMAC II-organized field days and other events. Now, Janeiro stocks Phoenix weather-insured seeds with support from NCBA CLUSA’s U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded SEEDS+ project.

By 2020, Janeiro’s volume of sales had increased so much that he expanded, opening a second store staffed by two full-time employees. In addition to trading inputs, he uses his business to aggregate and store neighboring farmers’ produce for subsequent sale to larger warehouse owners in Nampula.

Today, Janeiro is one of the largest inputs retailers in Mugema District and a recognized business leader in the area, known for diversifying his risk through a range of income sources. As well as opening a second location, Janeiro has also built a warehouse and a second home that allows him to earn an additional income stream by renting rooms. This success has enabled him to send his children to primary school, and even on to higher education. One of his sons is currently enrolled at a teacher training college in Alto Molocué.

At the same time, Janeiro maintains his own successful farm, putting his own advice into practice by using certified seeds and other inputs to farm three hectares of maize, cowpea, millet, pigeon pea and cassava.

Since the first seeds of civilization were planted, access to arable land has been central to human life. Yet even today, 12,000 years later, ownership of rich farm soil has largely been denied to one gender. Women, who make up half of the global adult population and 43 percent of the agricultural workforce, account for less than 15 percent of farmland owners. Nearly 40 percent of the world’s economies still limit women’s property rights, according to the World Bank. In the remaining 60 percent, male-centric cultural norms and legal inefficiencies still hinder women’s rights.

Ensuring women have the right to own land could lift millions of people out of hunger, reduce rural poverty, and improve sustainable natural resource management, according to studies from the United Nations (UN), World Bank, women’s rights nonprofit Landesa, and others. Such sources also agree that achieving global gender equity will start with local efforts—often by putting more information in the hands of women.

“It’s about data empowerment,” said Amy Coughenour Betancourt, CEO of Cadasta, a global nonprofit that connects communities with technologies for recording land and resource rights. “We approach it as enabling local stakeholders to document, secure, and manage their land rights and helping communities understand and use the data that’s collected.”

Giving women the choice to take ownership of their land starts with building a better understanding of their legal rights, and that begins with capturing digital records. Better access to maps and property data can also simplify proof of ownership, which can be expensive and time-consuming to obtain, particularly in rural communities. In Mozambique, for example, Cadasta worked with local leaders and the National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International (NCBA CLUSA) to make it easier for local farmers to get a certificate of landownership. Digital maps created with GIS technology eliminated several surveying steps, lowering time and costs from upwards of a year and US$400 in some cases to as little as three months and $30.

“Mozambique is a really good example of how the technology facilitates these processes,” Coughenour Betancourt said. “And the efforts in Mozambique emphasize women-led farms—women are given priority, and if the woman is married, she’s included on the certificate along with her husband.”

In Mozambique, a service connecting farmers like Afonso Araujo to critical price and market information is helping them run their farms like businesses. Afonso is an emerging farmer with NCBA CLUSA’s PROMAC II project, funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Maputo.

NCBA CLUSA Mozambique’s Agribusiness Unit (ABU), an umbrella entity responsible for linking all our projects and beneficiaries to private sector suppliers and goods and services, makes us unique in our field.

One of the ABU’s key tasks is to share market and price information between buyers and suppliers—especially during the commodity commercialization period from around June to September each year. The commercialization period in Mozambique is dynamic and fast paced, with a range of local and foreign buyers and their agents active in rural communities. Yet for many of the farmers we support (more than half, in fact, according to our soon-to-be published research conducted with the University Eduardo Mondlane and Boston Carroll School of Business), price and market information is simply not available to them. And when it is, it comes mostly from friends and family. This leaves farmers guessing when and who to sell to and at what price, emphasizing their already vulnerable position in the value chain.

The ABU, however, is changing this, and providing farmers and buyers alike with up-to-date, locally relevant market information to help them make sound business decisions. Through the commercialization period, the ABU collects weekly price information from buying posts, including for each PROMAC II-supported crop (beans, maize, sesame, peanut and soya) and district. This is complimented with additional market information regarding demand (the main commodity buyers active in each district, the crops they are actively buying, the prices they are offering and any specific quality standards they require) and supply (such as farmers’ groups and aggregators with large volumes of aggregated produce ready for sale). Our senior ABU staff then packages this into a weekly Price and Markets Bulletin that we disseminate both internally and externally via four channels: community radio, SMS, PROMAC II extension staff and agrodealers/Community Based Service Providers (CBSPs).

It was thanks to our bulletin that Afonso Araujo—an emerging farmer from the village of Mugema in Alto Molocue District, part of Mozambique’s Zambézia Province—was able to maximize his profit from selling 10 tons of sugar bean surplus in 2020. Acting on advice from his field assistant Albertina Loieque, Afonso made the decision to transport his beans from his home in Mugema—where it was selling for 45MZN/kg—to Capitão-Mor in Molumbo District, where the PROMAC II Price and Market Bulletin indicated that buyers were paying 55MZN/kg, a significant price difference. Even after paying transport costs, Afonso’s beans earned him 6.5MZN/kg more than the local price, giving him a total additional gain of 65,000MZN (around USD$1,000) above what he would otherwise have earned had he sold to local traders.

Without access to PROMAC II staff and the price bulletin, Afonso wouldn’t have known what other options were available to him. Even if he had, he would have been cautious to take the plunge—what if, when he got his product to Molombo District, it turned out to be too good to be true? Here, PROMAC II support was also critical. Rather than simply providing Afonso with hard, quantitative price data, PROMAC II ensured that he was also able to apply this data and translate it into sound business decisions.

By engaging directly with buyers on a daily basis, Albertina (Afonso’s field assistant) was there to provide him with real-time advice should the situation on the ground change. She also helped Afonso identify a local transport provider and run the calculations to compare his different options to ensure there were no surprises at the end of the day. Armed with this backup, support and information, Araujo had the confidence to proactively and confidently go in search of higher paying markets.

My name is Ana Manuel Cantema and I live in Vanduzi district in Manica Province. I am 39 years old and I have four children. I recently graduated from the 3rd level of the Adult Literacy program.

When the PROMAC II project entered my community, I did not know how to read, count or write. After the establishment of the Adult Literacy Center, I joined the program and started to study. I went from the 1st to the 2nd and from the 2nd to the 3rd level.

At the time, my challenge was to learn how to count to make my business easier and to read and write to make my life easier.

n addition to the school, the PROMAC II project taught me through its nutrition component how to make different dishes, such as porridge enriched with moringa, cabbage, fresh fish, badjias and soy milk, dried fish mixed with coconut or peanuts [and] cake, among others. I also learned that food before being consumed must be sanitized in order to be healthy.

From now on, I will continue to learn from NCBA CLUSA and I have already started teaching my neighbors and will continue to provide this support, because those who know something must teach the person who does not yet know. I intend to attend the 7th class of formal education, because the 3rd level of Adult Education completed is equivalent to the 6th class of normal education and if there are possibilities, I will continue my education.

In conclusion, I encourage NCBA CLUSA to continue to give these literacy lessons to communities because they need them.

NCBA CLUSA’s PROMAC II project (funded by the Embassy of Norway in Maputo), was selected as a finalist for the SCALE Creative Adaptation Award for its drone and SMS support for crop monitoring and extension services. This system can detect problems in crops before the human eye can see it and will alert farmers up to three weeks before crop development is effected. Saiba Mais

The SCALE Creative Adaptation Award highlights the most creative innovations for delivering aid and programming in the face of COVID-19 by partners implementing USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA)-funded emergency and development activities, as well as those working on other donor-funded programs that have relevance to the food security implementing community.

“Our work didn’t stop during the pandemic. We didn’t want the impending health crisis to compound with a potential food and agriculture crisis as well.”- NCBA CLUSA Mozambique Director, Carolina Reynoso Pieters, explained the importance of not only continuing work throughout the pandemic but also expanding new innovations.

Watch this short video for more information and learn about the other winners:

NCBA CLUSA, through its PROMAC II project (funded by the Embassy of Norway in Maputo), identified 3,000 smallholder farmers that could benefit from the Action Africa program. Selected farmers were part of PROMAC II´s extension network and thus were receiving technical assistance to adopt conservation agriculture practices.

NCBA CLUSA’s initiative was also implemented in partnership with the PROMAC II´s agrodealer network who not only stored and assisted with the distribution of the fertilizer, but also worked closely with the project team to ensure that improved seeds were available for purchase (at a subsidized price) by farmers receiving the fertilizer. The seeds made available to the farmers were from Phoenix Seeds and insured against floods and droughts by Hollard Seguros as part of the USAID funded and NCBA CLUSA managed SEEDS+ project  – the first time in Mozambique that smallholder insurance has been automatically bundled with commercial inputs.

More details on the Action Africa program can be found here:

Rosa, a farmer from Mozambique has a lot to say about producing and consuming healthy food in her local food system. Three years ago, she was issued a formal land title and started using climate-smart agricultural practices. Since then, she has doubled her yields of maize, beans, soy, and pigeon peas.

Commenting on how her life has changed, Rosa said, “I have improved my farming techniques, now my work is much easier and efficient.” The increase in yields has allowed Rosa to send her kids to school and save money, which she used to rebuild her home after it was leveled by Cyclone Idai in 2019. Now, during COVID, although things are hard, Rosa is more resilient and optimistic.

What is the secret to Rosa’s success? There is no single secret, but rather an integrated system that engages three levers for achieving a reimagined nutritious food system that can withstand the ravages of disasters and pandemic: land rights, climate-smart agriculture, and women’s empowerment.

Motivated by the evidence that secure land rights strengthen food security and resilience, Cadasta Foundation—a nonprofit organization focused on advancing global land rights—partnered with NCBA CLUSA last year to support an agricultural community in Mozambique to achieve regenerative, nourishing food systems to withstand future crises and the mounting effects of climate change.

WOMEN’S LAND RIGHTS: THE MISSING LEVER

Worldwide, food and land tenure insecurity particularly affect women, who are less than 20% of the world’s landholders, but make up 43% of the agricultural labor force. In Africa, women make up over half of its farmers and produce 70% of the food.

Data shows that women’s rights to land and productive assets are linked to improved health and education outcomes, higher earning and individual savings, better access to credit, and protection from domestic violence. Women need better market access to create consumer demand, increase food availability and affordability, and stimulate improved policies and market incentives necessary for a sustainable food system.

Cadasta supports this by developing and promoting new technologies for securing land through ground-up, participatory land documentation. By providing training for community visioning, mapping, and data collection, Cadasta works to ensure that all voices, especially those of women and youth, are consulted throughout the process, and that women’s names are included on the ownership documents so they can more securely invest in their land and homes and advocate for greater access to a range of goods and services.

PROMOTING CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE

Food systems are increasingly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. A “perfect storm” of undocumented land rights, lack of gender inclusion, and negative effects of climate change threaten the global food system.

When Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique last year, flooding crops and damaging property, another one-fourth of the country’s population was plunged into acute food insecurity. Field data and experience suggest that households using climate-smart agriculture are more likely to withstand shocks and stresses as well as recover more quickly due to more stable soil systems, water management, and better disaster risk reduction efforts. Furthermore, increased incomes from improved production provides a cushion for post-disaster resilience.

A REIMAGINED RESILIENT FOOD SYSTEM IN THE FACE OF COVID-19

With the specter of COVID-19 plunging millions more into acute hunger and food insecurity due to disruptions in planting, harvesting, and supply chains, how do we urgently support food systems that improve health, wealth, the environment, and resilience in the face of today’s pandemic and beyond?

The shock and disruptions caused by COVID-19 underscore the importance of resilient food systems. Farmers, and women farmers in particular, need the security of secure land rights to invest in their land, homes, and businesses today to better plan, adapt, and recover from future market shocks and stresses.

Even after the disruptions of COVID-19 have passed, climate change poses an ongoing threat to global food systems. However, as a growing body of research and Rosa’s experience shows, when used together, land tenure security, climate-smart agriculture, and women’s empowerment have the potential to transform food systems in Mozambique, across Africa, and around the world.