Miguel Rafael (44) and Carolina Alfredo (35) are married with two children aged six (6) and eighteen (18). They are originally from Baixo Lugela, in Mocuba, and used to live off fishing and selling diverse products such as biscuits, candles and sugar. In 2015, their home was destroyed by flooding when the Licungo River overflowed. Eventually, Miguel and Caroline, with their two children, were moved to the Nacogoloni resettlement camp near Mocuba for temporary shelter of internally displaced persons (IDPs). The Government declared Baixo Lugela, their original home, a risk zone and classified it as not suitable for human habitation.
The family received a piece of land near the IDP camp where they slowly attempted to rebuild their lives, despite limited access to agri-inputs and difficulty accessing extension services. Tragedy stuck again, in 2023 when Cyclone Freddy devastated their home which now needs to be reconstructed. These recurring climatic shocks have left a huge negative impact on their livelihoods and overall well-being.
The Feed the Future Mozambique Resiliência Integrada na Nutrição e Agricultura (FTF RESINA) Activity, implemented by ACDI/VOCA, identified these challenges and responded by facilitating the linkage between the community and Agrosu, an agribusiness company that sources a variety of produce. The company engaged 12 households, including Miguel and Carolina’s, for the production of assorted horticulture crops for use in its restaurant in Mocuba. To facilitate the training of the 12 households, Agrosu established a farmer field school to build the production capacity for different types of vegetables for supply to markets. Miguel and Carolina played a key role as leaders of the farmer field school. Working as a collective with the 12 farming households, Agrosu provided inputs worth 28,000MZN and purchased the farmers’ harvest for 111,000MZN, representing a collective profit of 83,000MZN. This amount was divided equally amongst each household, providing Miguel and Carolina an income of 7,000MZN which they are directing towards the purchase of construction materials required to rebuild their house. This linkage facilitated by FTF RESINA has empowered Miguel and Carolina to absorb the effects of climate shocks occurring in their community.
“We had humanitarian aid as much as possible, but the concern was, how will we survive after the aid ends that we knew would not last forever?” asks Carolina Alfredo.
Inspired by this success, Agrosu is now preparing 52 production plots – all of which have been spoken for by households in the IDP community – for horticulture production and marketing activities selling to Agrosu and other markets available close to their community.
Learn more about the FTF RESINA Activity.
Learn more about our work in Mozambique.
