A market systems approach to inclusive entrepreneurship in rural communities with a focus on families
iDE Mozambique is implementing our largest global operation with funded projects totalling more than US$40 million. By implementing a range of innovative agricultural, water entrepreneurship and alternative livelihood projects across the country, iDE is working to lift thousands of people out of poverty.
iDE Adapted To Combat Natural Disasters and Socio-Economic Disruptions
Farm Business Advisor (FBA) Flora Mostiço is a change agent in her Mozambican community. At her market store in Nhamatanda, in the Beira Corridor, the mother of six sells affordable agricultural inputs including high quality seeds, fertilizer, and water pumps. Despite repeated cyclones in the region, she runs a successful small scale farm and provides business support to other farmers. “I started with something small and now I am growing,” Flora says of her business. iDE has trained some 332 (117 women) FBAs like Flora across Mozambique’s Maputo, Sofala, Manica, Tete and Zambezia provinces.
Maiasa built a new life from a barren plot to support her family
After fleeing violence in 2020 and losing her father, 30-year-old Maiasa Nahoda Abdala resettled in Nacala, where she transformed her plot into a thriving source of income through resilient agricultural techniques learned from iDE's PROMARE project.
Under this grant, Nuarro Lodge is working with local farmers by building a Regenerative Agriculture Resilience Hub, the first of its kind in northern Mozambique, emphasizing the participation of women and youth, to introduce regenerative agricultural techniques.
Check out our capabilities in 2023. At iDE Mozambique we catalyze change in markets by incentivizing low income people to establish locally-led scalable solutions that are founded on mutually beneficial partnerships.
Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in Africa, with over 65 percent of its population earning less than $2 a day. Most of the population is engaged in agriculture, but agriculture makes up only 29 percent of the country’s GDP, due to the majority of farming activities being poor, subsistence-level crop and livestock raising. Combined with one of the worst literacy rates in Africa and one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS infections, Mozambique’s population is ready for real change.
Fernando Milambo stands proudly in his abundant cabbage field. iDE began working with Fernando in 2013, providing knowledge and tools that helped him increase his vegetable production. Today, he is a Farm Business Advisor, helping other farmers grow their businesses.
Visible agricultural technology spurs demand for change in Mozambique
Tropical greenhouse technology incorporates drip irrigation and ultraviolet plastic filtration cover that both protects the plants from heavy rainfall but also accelerates photosynthesis, resulting in healthier, larger produce.
iDE is implementing its FBA model in Mozambique to promote resource-smart technologies such as drip systems, pumps, and postharvest storage. We identify, train, and provide support to village-based agents who can bring high-quality agricultural products to small-scale farmers. iDE has established Agribusiness Service Centers to support these agents with market links to suppliers and buyers, building their business acumen and encouraging their development as entrepreneurs.
With its long coastline, over 22 million people (85 percent of the population) in Mozambique live in coastal areas that are threatened by sea-level rise and climate extremes. In the last decades, severe climate hazards including droughts, floods, and cyclones have resulted in several disaster conditions.
iDE helps people in rural areas build their resilience to climate extremes like floods and drought through the use of climate-smart agricultural technologies and practices.
The common perception in Mozambique is that it is more important to educate a boy than a girl. This leads to more early marriages (over half of girls are married by age 18), resulting in fewer opportunities for girls and women, who are expected to perform more of the domestic work than men.
By focusing on women as customers and entrepreneurs, iDE strengthens their participation in rural value chains and increases their access to technology, know-how, finance, and markets.
Malnutrition in Mozambique is high (43 percent of children under 5) due to a lack of diversity in diets, poor breastfeeding practices, high levels of disease, and a high rate of teenage pregnancy. Particularly of concern are chronic deficiencies in Vitamin A and iron for children under five.
iDE empowers farmers to grow different, more nutritious crops, so that people have a more varied diet, fueling them with the energy and mental ability they need to be successful.
Promoting modern agricultural practices in Mozambique
Farm business advisors are change agents who dispense information about best practices in technology, fertilizers, pest management, and postharvest storage through training sessions and demonstrations, as well as sell direct services, such as crop spraying.
At iDE Mozambique we catalyze change in markets by incentivizing low income people to establish locally-led scalable solutions that are founded on mutually beneficial partnerships.
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Activate Entrepreneurs
Join the Activators Circle, iDE’s monthly sustaining donor program, to activate entrepreneurs around the world to increase their incomes and improve the lives of their families.
