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After two years and half of technical assistance Mr. João has a great enthusiasm as the current production of cabbage and garlic will improve his income, and the profit has priority, the dream of seeing his daughter at university in the next year.
“My income has grown significantly. This year, in addition to having good production, I will be able to sell at a good price. In this production of cabbage, the expectation is to get 40 thousand meticais and, in garlic, at least 150 thousand meticais. And I already have big plans with the profit, to realize my dream of putting my daughter in the university, and my field is the only place where I can get that money from ”, said Mr. Chapungo.
Mr. Chapungo has been working in agriculture since he was young, but without a deep knowledge of good agricultural practices and in particular the diversification of culture and access to improved seeds, associated with good agricultural practices, he continued to work hard and without return. At the end of each agricultural campaign, Mr. Chapungo was frustrated by the poor production that only served to support the family and in some cases, it came to almost nothing.
However, Mr. Chapungo has seen his life improving over the past two years. Mr. Chapungo now, successfully cultivates high-yielding crops that are attractive to the local and Beira corridor market, such as cabbage and garlic, and rotates crops with the black beans and corn.
“With the introduction of new production technologies, we have learned to use the compass, we know the importance of using improved variety seeds, how to control pests and diseases for the production of cabbage, garlic and cereals; we learned about conservation agriculture, before we did not know how to rotate crops and burn our fields”.
Mr. Chapungo happily displays his production “this production of cabbage is being a success, the cabbage has quality and weighs at least 9kg, different from what I produced before, because I sowed tight and I couldn’t harvest cabbage this way quality and size, I was not aware of how to use other inputs to achieve these yields”.
Market access
"We already have people who want to buy our cabbage"
Now Mr. Chapungo and his members have easy access to the local market and the Beira corridor, thanks to the inclusive market approach that is being facilitated by the AFOC-MSD project.
“We are no longer concerned with buyers because there are people who want to buy, and in addition to that, we have access to the June 25 and Katanga markets where buyers from Beira and Tete come from, and because the cabbage and garlic have high quality, it will not take long on the market. This year, in addition to having a good production, we will sell them at a good price”.
Through his good production Mr. Chapungo managed to build a masonry house, support his family, and save money. He also participates in the small farmers' monthly meetings where he shares his experiences and inspires many people in his community to follow the same path of success.
“Today I feel like an accomplished producer. Now I can teach other producers so that they also have gains in production. As president of the association, I have to be an example to my members, before I didn't have garlic and cabbage production like this, but to be exemplary I have to demonstrate in my field that what we have learned I am applying ”, confessed Mr. Chapungo .
"From my field I want to multiply the production of garlic among my members, I will give 2 kg per member so that next year all members will have garlic seed for their fields", added Mr. João.
To Mr. Chapungo, the project changed his life and of his community. The association's president now has a total of 30 members, of which 16 are women and 14 men.
For better assistance and to prevent the spread of Corona Virus, the association is organized in small groups and each group goes to training in the demonstration field once a week. Each member of the association has its area outside the demonstration field.
Mr. Filipe Peniasse, is a young producer in Macate district. Mr. Filipe joined the association led by Mr. Chapungo earlier this year, in a critical situation in his production.
Thanks to the efforts and inspired by the association, today he has his own field where, through his production, he hopes to support his family and improve his living conditions.
“I have been assisted by Swisscontact AFOC-MSD project since March this year. Before I had no help and it was difficult, I had no idea of good agricultural practices, the use of fertilizers, improved seeds and other techniques passed on by Swisscontact technicians, having applied all this I see that this year, I will have a good production of cabbage and tomatoes. In this field there are 1300 heads of cabbage and I hope to have at least 20 to 30 thousand meticais of income”, happily said Mr. Filipe.
Mr. Filipe as well as the other producers who are members of the Simukai Kwaedza association, with the good results in recent years, they do not intend to stop, the vision ranges from the purchase of a motor pump, fertilizers and seeds to the expansion of their fields.
“My dream is to open a large field and produce more. The market for cabbage and tomatoes is already created. My goal after marketing cabbage is to buy motor pumps and agricultural inputs to expand my production further”.
From the income generated from their productions, each member of the association makes a regular contribution, and, with the value of the current harvest, they intend to build their own office (association's headquarters).
Mr. Chapungo and Mr. Filipe are among the 11, 965 smallholders’ farmers being assisted by AFOC-MSD Project from Swisscontact within the FAR Mozambique Program, financed by the Sweden Embassy. The AFOC - MSD project addresses the need to apply smart agricultural practices in the field of climate to ensure sustainable food security and income diversification.