Objective
A market systems development project designed to make the horticulture sector in Northern Mozambique more competitive against local or foreign (mainly South Africa) imports through increased productivity, quality and de-seasonalisation of smallholder vegetable production.
Market systems focus
Horticulture
Consumption of horticultural products in the Nacala Corridor in Northern Mozambique has doubled in the last seven to eight years and is expected to grow at the same sustained rate due to growing urbanisation and strong economic development in the tourism, mining and infrastructure sectors.
Despite these encouraging market conditions, the local small-scale horticultural producers are not equipped to take full advantage of this opportunity and are increasingly losing ground to vegetables from other far away provinces or from outside the country.
They are largely uncompetitive in price, highly seasonal, insufficiently diversified or demand-driven and therefore lack responsiveness to market specifications, requirements and expectations in terms of quality, grade, size, colour, perishability and seasonal availability.
Horti-Sempre seeks to increase the marketable, steady supply of a variety of quality fruit and vegetables in the Nacala Corridor, Nampula Province and Cabo Delgado, thereby increasing the income of small-scale horticultural producers and alleviating poverty in the area. It also aims to increase market responsiveness and competitiveness of the horticultural sector in Northern Mozambique.
Programme interventions
Inputs and Practices
Productivity of horticultural smallholders in Northern Mozambique is increased by:
- facilitating of private actors to import, distribute and promote improved seeds adapted to tropical conditions and promoting local production and packaging of seeds
- disseminating innovative technologies such as tunnels and greenhouse technologies for protected cultivation; and cultivation practices such as cassava fast multiplication technology and local onion seed production
- introduction of new crop varieties with improved productivity and resistance (i.e. cowpeas beans)
- development or strengthening of new cash crops for smallholders (white onions, garlic and mung beans)
- cross sampling of improved bean varieties with maize
- dissemination of basic good agricultural practices
Irrigation
Horticultural smallholders increase their area under irrigation by:
- the introduction and dissemination of affordable irrigation solutions, such as hip-pumps and underground dams
- testing farm-based and community-based irrigation solutions
- facilitation of private actors to import, distribute and promote irrigation technologies
Sector Competitiveness
Market responsiveness and competitiveness of the horticultural sector in Northern Mozambique enhanced by:
- improving the links between producers and medium/large buyers
- upgrading the value chain with new standards, packaging and logistics services
- collecting and publishing market intelligence
- cluster promotion and facilitation of buyer linkages
- onion processing and mechanisation
Women’s Economic Empowerment
Special women-targeted interventions such as mini nurseries for commercialisation of fruit saplings and rabbit/duck farming integrated with horticulture activities.
Notable results (systemic change, poverty impact)
Horticulture
- 30% increase in annual production and annual net income
- 1,311,000 USD/year additional income in 2016 generated
- 6,277 (21.8% female) semi-commercial smallholders benefitted by Dec 2017
Inputs and Practices
- Inputs providers stocking and selling new/improved vegetables and beans seeds
- Semi-commercial smallholders accessing new/improved vegetable seeds and subsistence farmers accessing new/improved bean varieties through cross sampling
- Increase in domestic seed production and sales with increased market share of domestic quality seeds
- Businesses adopting new technologies and providing improved inputs to smallholders (e.g. protected cultivation and nurseries, fast cassava multiplication, integration horticulture-livestock).
- Semi-commercial and subsistence smallholders benefiting from new technologies
- Increasing adoption rates of basic, low investment GAPs
Irrigation
- Subsistence and semi-commercial smallholders benefitting from the community-based irrigation solutions introduced
- Semi-commercial smallholders adopting the farm-based irrigation systems introduced
Sector Competitiveness
- Increase in aggregated volumes sold in new production clusters / increase in local production traded in t/year
- Semi-commercial smallholders benefitting from basic processing practices introduced / increase in t/year annual volumes of processed horticulture products sold
- Demonstrated use of market intelligence by private and public stakeholders for procurement, investment and policy formulation
Women’s Economic Empowerment
- Increased duck rearing and diversified income
- Increased fruit nurseries, production of tree seedlings and diversified incomes
[uploaded December 2017]