Manica, Zambezia and Nampula
2009 – 2012

With the AgriFuturo Project, a USAID financed consortium led by Abt Associates, we selected 20 smallholders with a more strategic market vision and supplied them with a tailor-made technological package including intensive technical assistance and mentoring, connection with inputs suppliers and local/international markets, and support in accessing production credit via Banco Terra. 

Our technical team introduced new varieties of sesame from Tanzania and Nicaragua, developed innovative market-based solutions for managing pests and diseases (e.g. sesame seed treatment kits and foliar feed fertilizers), and introduced processing and quality control techniques to meet exigent export standards. 

In the first year alone, this group of pioneering farmers cultivated 400 ha of crops and generated over $153,000 in income, spurring on farmers around them by each earning on average $3,600 in net profits after repaying back their loans.