Zambezia
2007 – 2012

In the 1980s soya was cultivated in small scale in pockets of northeast of Zambezia province, but with little success. Spurred by Norwegian interest in purchasing non-GMO soya from Mozambique, and with finance from the Norwegian Development Agency (NORAD), we spotted an opportunity to take advantage of soya’s potential for generating thousands of jobs, increasing smallholder income and enabling the expansion of other strategic local industries. In 2007 our ProSoja Project reintroduced soya in Zambezia, marking the beginning of what has been one of Mozambique’s biggest agricultural success stories in recent years.

We supported more than 5,000 smallholders to make the transition from subsistence to commercial agriculture by taking up soya – sky-rocketing production from just 500 tons to 6,000 tons per year and transforming  the social and economic conditions of districts like Lioma and Ruace.

Our intervention laid the foundations for an industry which today produces around 44,000 tons per year, generates income for around 38,000 soya producers and has been essential for supporting the growth of the local poultry industry – another of the country’s major successes.