Mozambican Farming Cooperative for Women Shares Knowledge, Builds Local Access and Capacity
In the past, Celina Cossa would queue for days and even nights just to get the chance to buy a bag of maize to feed her two children, her husband, and herself. She was one of thousands of Mozambican women finding it difficult to feed her family in a country that was newly independent from its Portuguese colonisers and in the midst of a civil war. Food shortages in Mozambique in the 1980s were a norm, and many – especially women – were extremely poor.
In response, Cossa, along with 250 other women, began growing crops and raising poultry together. With limited funds at first, many of the women would bring their own agricultural tools and money to support the project.
The women sold the excess and created a business that now has about 2,900 mostly women farmers. And as the numbers grew, they expanded the reach of their operation to begin helping others get credit to start their own businesses.
Now called the General Union of Cooperatives (UGC), this Mozambican network of women farmers is still led by Cossa. UGC gives them technical training, literacy education, as well as services such as childcare. Members now supply much of the capital’s vegetables, fruits, and poultry with members making on average 50 per cent more than the national minimum wage.
Now the cooperative also helps women farmers get loans to start and run their businesses, assists with giving them expert advice on how to begin farming and helps them sell their produce at markets. To date, the farmers produce eight thousand chickens per month and are supplying the local markets with their products.
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This post was adapted from an article written by African journalists Menesia Muinjo and Geline Fuko, who took part in a journalist training session coordinated by IPS.
Tags: Africa, maputo, market access, mozambique, principle2, principle3, women
Oct 07, 2009
The Publisher,
This success impact story is very educative and it provides proof that women can change lives if given the neccessary support. The common saying that empowering women results in improving the livelihoods of communities, nations and eventually the world could be realised much quicker. What Cossa initiated and developed with others is clear example of how we can liberate ourselves from the bondage of poverty and chronic hunger in developing countries.
The case highlights the positives, which is alright because readers would be encouraged to try to emulate the example. However, leaving out challenges, problems encountered and lessons learnt from such experiences denies the real life aspect of any endevour which is vital in planning and implemeting similar initiatives. I would therefore suggest that readers should also be shared the challenges, problems, lessons learnt, etc from such cases and how they managed them.
best regards,
Isaac Monjo Chavula
Project Manager,
Concern Universal
Malawi
Oct 15, 2009
Dear Sir/Madam
Liberated,empowered and accomplished are found to be the three pillars that Mozambican women have shown in their endeavor to get their and their family members livelihood.It can be a vista to the women of least developed countries like ours who have been living in age old patriarchal familial and social set up without or least access to socioeconomic and natural resources and with having least decision making power in all affairs. It can be a lesson to the women of my country who, more than 33%, have also been the representatives of constituent assembly, formed after a decade long conflict, to document new constitution of inclusiveness.
Udbodh Bhandari, Lecturer, Anthropology, PK Campus, BagBazzar, Kathmandu,Nepal