LOZANE FARMS ENABLING FOOD SECURITY AND LOCAL JOB CREATION — FEATURED ON IT’S AFRICAS TIME In Northern Mozambique, the Alto Molocue District is well known for cereal farming, with maize covering 30% of the total district’s production. However, crops such as cowpea, sugar bean and soya bean are also being produced and are fast becoming cash crops in the region, where 80% of production is done by small scale farmers, providing an extensive opportunity for growth in the agricultural sector. ProSavana is a triangular development program between the Mozambican Ministry of Agriculture, the Brazilian Cooperation Agency and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency. Its objective is to aid agricultural and rural development of areas along the Nacala Corridor, which runs from the port of Nacala to landlocked Malawi. ProSavana identifies initiatives in remote areas and provides financial credit at 10%, far below the commercialmarket interest rate which lies between 23-26%. In its initial phase, the fund has benefited five companies, whose investments will impact directly on access to new markets and technologies for approximately 2,000 small producers. It’s Africa’s Time meets with Lozane Farms Lda, a local seed supplier in the region, producing soya, maize, cowpea, sorghum and pigeon pea seeds as well as the horticulture production of cabbages, tomatoes and green peppers. As a beneficiary of the ProSavana program, Lozane Farms is working with approximately 425 small scale farmers in the district. “I would describe small scale farmers as small business units. And like any other business unit, they go into business to grow. Coupled with the fact that it’s difficult for these small business units, which is the biggest network in agriculture in the country, to access finance, their lack of know-how is a great challenge to their growth. In addition, there is also a huge lack of improved quality seed available. So our main objective is to be a supplier of quality seed across the country, and we have seen farmers increasing their land and their yield as they realize that they can sell more,” says Bakir Lozane, Founder and CEO of Lozane Farms. Lozane Farms assists the farmers with training and technical assistance to ensure the quality of their produce and then buys the produce back from the farmers to sell to market. “This is a commercial relationship and a win-win situation,” says Lozane. AgriFUTURO is the Mozambique Competitiveness and Agribusiness Program launched by USAID, which works at strengthening agricultural value chains. AgriFUTURO is the main development partner in the establishment of Lozane Farm’s soya seed processing plant, which will enable the supply of improved soya bean seeds and other crop varieties in the region, and contribute towards improving food security and increasing the income of producers and rural families. See the full episode of ITS AFRICAS TIME Season 1 Episode 11 on Wednesday 13 August on the Zuku TV channel, Bunge TV, at 7:30pm EAT, and on AZAM TV at 7:00pm EAT. IT’S AFRICA’S TIME is produced by Regency Foundation Networx in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme - UNDP itsafricastime.org
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 09:00:00 +0000
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