Agriculture: We Want More!
9 July 2009
By Cameron Morris KF8, Mozambique
In San Francisco waking up on a Saturday morning and hitting the Noe Valley farmers market is always a good time. Organic, sustainably grown, local produce , grass-fed, free range meat, 30 something couples playing with their toddlers and quaint discussions with local farmers are just a few of the delights. I’ve got a particular soft spot for the ever-popular heirloom tomatoes, I even went so far as to cultivate my own last year.
How does the image I’m painting relate to the market I visit every day in Boane, Mozambique? While there obviously aren’t three year olds sporting Obama tees in the Boane market part of me always assumed that the products being peddled in such markets were being sold by someone just a few deviations away from the local farmer. My dream was recently crushed when a co-worker told me that a lot of the agricultural products found in the market were imported from South Africa. While Mozambique isn’t entirely dependent upon food imports from South Africa they do get a lot of their food from their neighbor and certainly have deficiencies with local agricultural production.
When founded way back in 1995, the predecessor to my MFI set out to stimulate agricultural growth in post-civil war Southern Mozambique through microfinance. Fast forward fourteen years and what are we seeing? Decidedly bad results. Local farmers can’t compete with subsidized South African agriculture, they can’t purchase costly capital equipment, some of the arable land here is riddled with remnant landmines, and there is a lot of inherent risk involved in going into agriculture. My MFI is aware of these issues and has started taking action to address them.
The Community Tractor
One of the coolest things that they’re doing is something I call the “community tractor”. They own a tractor that they lease out to local farmers. This obviously cuts down on capital costs for these farmers and also leaves the maintenance to the MFI. It’s almost like City CarShare for tractors. While I’m sure this isn’t a novel idea, it’s still pretty cool. We’ve also got Daniel Machava on the payroll, a native Mozambican who studied agronomy in Cuba for 4 years, and more agricultural focused products being developed by an external partner. Possibly indexed weather insurance? Who knows? The sky is the limit, the deft touch of ingenuity will eventually get the African Green Revolution going and build the beautiful bridge between the Noe Valley farmers market and the Boane mercado principal.
Cameron Morris is a member of KF8 currently working with Hluvuku-Adsema in Mozambique. At this point he can say about three sentences in Ronga and is completely comfortable with the local Portuguese dialect.
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Entry Filed under: Africa, Hluvuku-Adsema, KF8 (Kiva Fellows 8th Class), Mozambique. Tags: Agriculture, Boane, Cameron Morris, Farmers Markets, indexed weather insurance, Kiva, micro leasing, microfinance, Mozambique, Noe Valley Farmers Market.
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1. Alex | 9 July 2009 at 13:32
Food connects and binds us, and is a hot topic right now in literature and media. Our daily consumption is finally getting the awareness we so desperately need if we are ever going to create a sustainable and equitable existence.
On a personal note, my father recently built a greenhouse in our backyard. He has over 30 varieties of fruits and vegetables. Not only does this give my recently retired Dad a way to spend his hard earned time off, but creates a healthy way of live. Fresh tomatoes, corn and lettuce, raised by a labor of love from my Dad. We all should aim for such a plot of land.
2. Julia W | 9 July 2009 at 13:33
Cameron you should work on getting an iPod adapter for these City CarShare-esque tractors…a little beat might put people to work. JK
Do Boanians(?) export anything?
3. Ben Elberger | 9 July 2009 at 15:01
Cameron,
Thanks for sharing this on the Fellows Blog! I saw some of these cool programs when visiting Hluvuku-Adsema in 2007 but I’m really happy to hear they are still working on improving their agriculture work.
Good luck with the Ronga!
Ben
4. Justin Oliver | 9 July 2009 at 15:18
This is huge. A community’s ability to cultivate land for agriculture is such a prerequisite to many fruitful doors being opened (pun intended). Even the participation of the people within the farm will spark momentum for further development once the rewards are realized. It’s tragic that these people aren’t able to fully reach their potential because of remnants of a long violent past, I’m glad there are people like you helping to remove these barriers. Go get em tiger
…just avoid those mines.
5. Unilove | 10 July 2009 at 01:03
Love that the MFI has come up with such a simple yet profound solution with the community-shared tractor. While we lenders can sometimes think that the solutions seem obvious, these posts remind us of the complexity of the issues… Great post…
Unilove
Kiva Fellows fan
6. awhiteman | 10 July 2009 at 01:22
That’s really interesting. I had no idea about those issues going on in Mozambique. Sounds like you’re learning a lot. Best of luck.
7. Laura B. | 10 July 2009 at 01:52
Cameron,
What a great post!
Isn’t it interesting how one small economic transaction in South Africa can throw off an entire industry in Mozamibique!
I have a soft spot for agriculture and sustainable agricultural development. This is so cool. Thank you for researching and exploring this issue!
8. morrisctm | 10 July 2009 at 03:20
I just visited another kiva entrepreneur in the Boane market that was complaining about the rise in prices of imported South African agricultural products. She said that the rise in prices is effecting her ability to pay back her loan!
9. Sloane Berrent | 12 July 2009 at 10:46
Great post. My MFI also has a section that just researches agriculture and ways to make it more sustainable for their business practices.
I sure do miss those California farmer’s markets.