Together We Achieve More
How one women’s group helped its members and their community
Rosinha Feliciano never really considered herself someone to shake things up. The 46-year-old was born in Mecuaziua, a small community in Mozambique. She attended primary school until marrying her husband and moving to Nacololo, another small community nearby. While her husband worked as a security guard, she stayed home taking care of the house and her three children, then began to farm her husband’s land. Nothing out of the ordinary for most women in her community.
Low yields with slow improvements
Rosinha’s low yields in her early sesame and cowpea harvests were also not out of the ordinary. Small farmers in Mozambique often have poor or erratic yields due to low quality seeds and lack of information about best practices, including pest control, irrigation and planting practices. When Rosinha heard about a Farmer’s Association in Nacololo she knew they could help. After joining, she learned new farming techniques for sesame, cowpea, and maize. And her yields began to improve.
Connections Made
As important as her new farming skills were, joining the association also gave Rosinha the opportunity to make connections with other women, which was critically important for information sharing. Rosinha became the association’s nutrition advisor and promoter, which allowed her to interact with many women in her community and surrounding area, while giving advice on nutrition.
The Farmer’s Association members are predominantly men and as Rosinha spoke to more women in the community, she recognized that many of the women’s concerns were not being addressed. The women she talked to cared most about being able to feed their family a nutritious healthy diet.
“I learned that men did not always regard our concerns as important. Most of the time, they are not addressed at all,” Rosinha said.
Planting Seeds of Success
Rosinha and 15 other women farmers decided to take matters into their own hands and established the Associação das Mulheres de Nacololo Nivenhe. Rosinha became the group leader and promoter of production and nutrition activities. Profits were still important. But they also wanted to produce healthy, nutritious food for their communities. When the group learned of USAID’s SEMEAR project in 2016, they saw an opportunity for themselves and their communities.
SEMEAR, meaning to plant in Portuguese, seeks to improve food security in Mozambique by partnering with local farmers to demonstrate the benefit of improved seed varieties, technologies, and methods. Select farmers or groups of farmers receive training and resources to set up demonstration plots where farmers can learn by doing and see the results of the new techniques in real time.
The seeds introduced by SEMEAR are varieties that are drought tolerant, resistant to endemic pests and diseases, and show significant increases in yields on farmers’ fields. With local farmers piloting and demonstrating the benefits of new techniques, more community members trusted the process and agreed to incorporate new seeds and practices into their farming routine. SEMEAR also helped local farmers become certified seed producers, making better quality, higher yielding seeds more accessible to farming communities.
Rosinha and her colleagues received training and resources from SEMEAR. Together they planted demonstration plots with a variety of crops using seeds that were developed in their own communities.
Their yields increased with the very first harvest! The cowpea yields doubled which allowed each woman to keep enough certified seed for the next season. And, because seeing is believing, other local farmers were eager to buy the group’s remaining 320 kilograms of seeds to try them out. Before, farmers would have traveled three hours roundtrip to get quality seed.
Rosinha says: “After SEMEAR we realized that working together we could achieve even more profits, and we could harvest good crops that could feed the households in our community.”
Better seeds and practices, improved yields and incomes
In Rosinha’s first year working with SEMEAR, her sesame harvest doubled — going from 200 to 400 kilograms. Her profits from selling the seed and grain increased too. By 2019, Rosinha’s farm yielded one ton of sesame. She was able to sell her sesame at approximately $1.20 per kilogram, giving her a gross revenue of $1,209.97.
The increasing yields and profits from sesame mirrored what was happening with her other crops — cowpea, groundnut, mung beans, and maize. Her fellow association members saw similar increases in yields and profits.
Role model and new household dynamics
Rosinha and her husband recently began building a new house using their increased income. “I had a lot of money in my hands! We started in January and by July the walls were all finalized.” said Rosinha. “I don’t have to wait for my husband anymore. Sometimes it’s me giving him money now!” she added laughing.
Others in the community see Rosinha as a role model and are also looking for ways to make and save money.
Investing in themselves and the community
The association has grown from 16 to 23 members and was recently legally registered as a cooperative, which increases opportunities for growth. It continues to invest in projects that benefit the community — most recently investing in a poultry business.
“We are the only chicken sellers here in Nacololo and even people from Namialo come to Nacololo to buy chicken from the Cooperativa das Mulheres de Nacololo Nivenhe, Rosinha noted. “Now our community is different — better — because we can purchase local seed and chicken for more diverse food choices.”
Looking ahead
When reflecting on the key to her success, Rosinha stressed the importance of working together. She encouraged farmers to form organized groups where they can support each other and take advantage of outside support.
“The training and support we received from SEMEAR and other organizations enabled us to have a prosperous future in agriculture,” she says, “and continue to plant smiles in our communities.”
SEMEAR’s Impact. Rosinha’s experience reflects the impact that USAID’s SEMEAR project has had in the Manica, Nampula, Tete and Zambezia provinces where it operates. Since 2015:
- 113,000 households have increased their income and food security.
- 15,800 farmers, extension agents and seed inspectors have received training.
- 7,215 tons of certified seed have been made available to farmers through public private partnerships with seed companies, community-based seed producers, farmers associations and stakeholders.
- 306,000 farmers — including 110,160 women — have benefited by using improved seeds and applying improved crop management practices and technologies on approximately 429,000 hectares of land.
About the Author
Filipa Embaló is an independent consultant at USAID’s Mission in Mozambique.
