The Society for International Cooperation and Development (SOCODEVI), a non-governmental organization supported by the Canadian government, made a donation last Friday (9) to agricultural cooperatives in the provinces of Gaza and Maputo, in southern Mozambique. This gesture of solidarity involved the delivery of advanced machinery for production, with the aim of boosting their activities and increasing agricultural production and productivity, according to the newspaper Noticias.
In the information released, the Cooperativa de Desenvolvimento Agrícola do Incomáti Sul (CoopDASI), which includes the districts of Marracuene and Manhiça, stands out, as does the Cooperativa de Desenvolvimento Agrícola de Gaza (Coo-PGAZA), which brings together members from the districts of Chókwè, Guijá and Mandlakazi. Together, the groups received 18 seed drills, ten motor pumps and a corresponding number of power tillers.
The equipment, valued at 105,000 Canadian dollars (equivalent to 3 million meticais), was symbolically handed over at the Maluana administrative post, located in the Marracuene district, in the presence of notable representatives of the district governments concerned and the Mozambican Tax Authority, which also funds a specific program aimed at cooperativism.
Denício Muare, deputy director of agricultural marketing, said that this initiative is part of a six-year program called the Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment Support Project (PAEF), which began in 2020 and benefits producers associated with the National Peasant Union (UNAC).
“These associations are encouraged to form cooperatives. So far, we have seen this regional organization flourish in Maputo, called CoopDASI, and another in Gaza, known as Coo-Gaza. This year, SOCODEVI formally delivered agricultural equipment as part of this effort,” he said.
The PAEF represents an investment of approximately 14 million dollars, entirely earmarked for strengthening these cooperatives and spreading a more sustainable vision to encourage more farmers to adopt this form of organization.
Muare clarified that the distribution of this equipment aims to provide robust production through agricultural mechanization, which will have a positive impact on production and the subsequent availability of food on the national market.
The recipients of the initiative emphasize the time savings in production, which will now be less dependent on the rainy seasons due to the support of the motor pumps.
“The seeders invite us to capitalize on production. With the motor pumps, we will avoid irrigation with buckets, a procedure that requires considerable effort and time,” said Ana Fazenda, vice-president of CoopDASI.
For her part, Clara, president of Coo-PGAZA, also recognizes the urgent need to speed up the distribution mechanisms for the cooperative’s products, which are one of the most significant obstacles to marketing.
According to Ndava, an increase in the volume of production is expected, which in turn will lead to challenges in transportation, a situation already experienced in 2023 and which led to the loss of countless perishable products.
After benefiting from the equipment, the cooperatives are now turning their attention to ways of transporting production.
