“The quantities of crops we are selling today like green pepper, green beans, lettuce, onions, and corn are surpassing what we used to before, when we used watering cans”- Ines Maria, Female smallholder farmer, Sofala speaking of the benefits of using solar water pumping and small irrigation systems
UNIDO with funding from The GEF partnered with ADPP Mozambique to implement a Farmers’ Club program in the provinces of Zambezia, Sofala and Tete targeting 2,250 small scale farmers, most of them women, organized in 45 farmers’ clubs. The intervention contributed to poverty reduction in the respective areas by promoting local value chains, developing the farmers’ business skills, with a focus on women’s empowerment and increased income of the small holder farmers. 4,000 smallholder farmers (55% women) now have access to solar powered irrigation systems irrigating a total area of 31 hectares of land and enabling them to be productive all year around. The installations coincided with the beginning of the rainy season period in which the farmers normally prepare their fields for cultivating.