In Mozambique, water project boosts yields as farmers grapple with climate extremes
The project provided irrigation kits, constructed boreholes, small dams and water troughs that increased access to water for people and cattle
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, July 2, 2020/ --
Felicidade Machava, 60, likes to recount the story about how, one year,
she filled a small truck with maize from her harvest.
Machava, is a farmer in Guija district in Mozambique. The country has
been experiencing weather volatility in the form of longer and more
frequent cyclones and droughts. Extreme climate events affect the
agriculture sector, a source of employment for 70% of Mozambicans, by
hampering productivity, straining subsistence output, and reducing
opportunities along the agricultural value chain.
With funding from the African Development Bank, Climate Investment Funds and the Mozambican government, the project provided irrigation kits,
constructed boreholes, small dams and water troughs that increased
access to water for people and cattle and also helped boost farmers’
yields to the benefit of nearly 60,000 people. The project covered five
districts in the country’s drought-prone Gaza province.
Machava is a member of Green Revolution, a farmers’ association that
participated in the Sustainable Land and Water Resources Management
Project (SLWRMP). The 20 members of Green Revolution farmers’
association in Guija, 12 of whom are women, rotated 12 irrigation kits
among themselves so that each day three farmers had the use of them on
small plots.
The project also provided a pumping system for the collective’s farmers
to use. It was expensive to run – fuel costs run as high as $15 a day –
but members’ fees contributed to covering it. With advisory support
from a government official in their district, the farmers generated a
financial surplus by selling green beans, maize, pumpkin, kale, onion
and green pepper in the local market.
According to Machava, “In 2017, I was able to focus strongly on the
production of green beans, which allowed me to buy an additional plot of land for approximately $83 and start to build a new home – which I hope to complete with the earnings of the next agricultural season.”
For farmer Rute Bila, the project has allowed her to access a reliable
source of water from a river near her farmland. Bila has increased
production from her fields and is now able to pay school fees for her
nephews. Speaking of her business plans, she says, “I bought a goat,
which I paid approximately $38 for, and I hope to expand into a flock of goats that I can sell.”
She’s not the only one. “My goal is to someday supply to the big
manufacturing companies in the area,” said Guezanes Maluleque, a
53-year-old farmer in the village of Mapai Rio. He heads up two
households but finds it advantageous to pay four laborers to work some
of his 30 hectares, freeing up members of his family to cultivate their
own plots of land.
Under SLWRMP, Maluleque received 150 cashew and 60 mango trees and in
his first crop produced 50 kilos that he was able to sell to a traveling salesman for $1 a kilo.
The project distributed a total of 56 irrigation kits across the five
participating districts, which directly benefitted 3,600 people, more
than 80% of them women. The target beneficiaries of the irrigation kits
were trained in how to use them properly.
With the nearest river at least 20 km away for many of the farmers, the
project also built 21 small earth dams to water cattle and to meet
villagers’ needs. Three more dams were built than had been originally
planned for, more than doubling to almost 30,000 the number of people
who gained improved access to water. More than 50,000 head of cattle are watered at these dams, over three times the number the dams were
expected to serve.
According to analysis by the World Bank Development Impact Evaluation
Research Group of the seven-year project, irrigation kits increased
farmers’ productivity threefold. And the knock-on benefits extend beyond livelihoods. “I’ve had a change in nutrition as now I am able to
produce vegetables such as lettuce and onions,” said Alberto Mutasse.
Lessons learned from the project mean it can be replicated and scaled up in other districts. Best practice from its implementation has already
been incorporated into the Bank’s Drought Recovery & Agriculture
Resilience Project . In addition, Mozambique government staffers have
been trained in how to roll out and manage climate adaptation
strategies.
Total funding for SLWRMP, which wrapped up in December 2019, was an
estimated $21.5 million; $4.9 million was provided by the Bank Group’s
African Development Fund. Climate Investment Funds extended $15.9
million in financing and the Government of Mozambique $0.5 million.
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