Obama recently announced that $2 million would be dedicated to an expansion of the partnership between USAID, through Feed the Future, and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency. The money will be used to help Mozambique increase food security with creative agricultural production strategies.

Around 54.7% of Mozambique’s population lives below the national poverty line. The country also struggles with high rates of chronic malnutrition.

With these additional American and Brazilian funds and support systems, Mozambique is in a position to reduce poverty. It has one of the highest rates of economic growth in Africa and exports a large amount of food in the region.

Feed the Future and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency have started initiatives to connect school food programs with local agricultural production. Agricultural research and technology to support local farmers can help address the malnutrition in the region and the broader prevalence of poverty by supporting local farmers.

In the fiscal year of 2013, 47,700 hectares of land were sustained with improved technologies, 575,000 people were trained in child health and nutrition, and 63,800 producers have used new agricultural skills developed by Feed the Future projects

There are several key strategies to increase Mozambique’s food security. One is to increase farmers’ access to agricultural inputs, finance services and unique partnerships. In Mozambique, the central focus is support of critical value chains. For example, sesame, soybean and banana are important crops for nutritional and economic reasons.

Moving forward, there is a push to increase equitable growth in agriculture, support the government’s investment plan and promote local agriculture and nutrition efforts.

– Iliana Lang

Sources: Feed the Future, USAID 1, USAID 2
Photo: Feed The Future