I have just returned from
Mozambique where I was lucky enough to see the latest in IFAD's cooking and
climate series, Recipes for
Change, being filmed. The newest recipe, Caldeirada
De Cabrito Com Mandioca, is a goat and
cassava curry. It was was cooked by a local farmer, Helina Paulo, and famous Mozambican
chef, Rogerio Matusse. Rogerio has his own catering company and is a regular
presenter on Mozambican TV, also hosting a Mozambican tourism show.
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Chef Rogerio and
Helina cooking together ©IFAD
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IFAD works in Mozambique
through its PROSUL
project, fighting the effects of climate change on smallholder farmers. Farmers
like Helina are facing problems with drier soils, higher temperatures and
increased droughts. Water shortages and lack of irrigation also contribute to
the difficulties facing smallholders. All this is combining to reduce yields,
increase wastage and ultimately hurt farmers’ incomes.
The PROSUL project has split itself into three separate
streams to help tackle these issues- horticulture, red meat and cassava. Each
segment has its own set of actions, which complement each other and ultimately
ensure traditional dishes like caldeira
de cabrito com mandioca will stay on the menu in Mozambique. The red meat
stream is ensuring the health of goats by introducing new raised goat shelters,
that stop goats catching diseases when it floods. The cassava and horticulture
focused parts, are introducing new planting techniques, seed species and
irrigation systems to ensure vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers and
cassava are protected.
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| Water irrigation system at the Wapsala Association ©IFAD |
Through the project cassava processing plants, like the one
in the picture below, are being built. In these plants farmers are diversifying
incomes by creating cassava flour, cassava cakes and biscuits and in some areas
selling the surplus cassava they’ve grown to breweries who make beer from it.
Where is the cassava surplus coming from?
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Intercropping with cassava and cowpea ©IFAD
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The project has been introducing new cassava to households.
This new cassava survives on far less water than traditional cassava, which is
crucial in low rainfall or drought years. Additionally, this new cassava is
more resistant to diseases and pests.
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| Helina measuring out the distance between crops ©IFAD |
Farmers are also
being taught the latest adaptation techniques to cope with climate change. One
technique is to identify cassava which is infected with pests and diseases and
ensure that farmers remove these. Traditionally farmers have not wanted to
remove any cassava as this would mean a loss of product. However through farmer
field schools, farmers have been taught how early identification and removal of
affected crops actually preserves yields. Traditionally a farmer would plant
cassava and after a year would harvest. But with the new techniques such as
intercropping this has allowed farmers to plant crops with a far shorter
growing cycle than cassava on the same plot. This means that they can harvest
and sell the other crops while waiting for the cassava to mature, bolstering
incomes. Also as the secondary crops such as cowpea grow they provide shade to
the cassava and retain soil moisture which both help the cassava to grow large
and healthy.
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| Wapsala Association meeting ©IFAD |
Helina is part of the Wapsala Farmers Association. It is a
group of smallholder farmers that regularly meet to share knowledge and lessons
learned. They meet at the Association’s headquarters, which is surrounded by
their own plots. The headquarters also doubles as the cassava processing plant.
Helina said that by using these new techniques all the farmers at the Wapsala
Association have seen big increases in their yields. Using the project's
market connections they have also found reliable markets to sell their produce.
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| Creating cassava flour at the Wapsala processing plant ©IFAD |
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| Cassava processing plant in Wapsala ©IFAD |
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| Grinding cassava in the Wapsala processing plant ©IFAD |
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| Cassava flour biscuits, one of the new revenue streams for the Wapsala Association ©IFAD |