The Agricultural Productivity Program for Southern Africa (APPSA) dissemination seminar was held on 24th -25th October 2019, in Maputo. This programme which CCARDESA is coordinating at regional level provided an opportunity to showcase and discuss the rich lessons and insights shared by Principal Investigators (PI’s) of the World Bank funded projects in last six years of the program implementation.
According to Dr. Olga Fafetine, the Director General of the Mozambique Agricultural Research Institute (IIAM), investments in technology generation and dissemination is instrumental for the agricultural sector. “The Government of Mozambique has been investing a considerable amount of resources to generate technologies,” she said. In this technology generation and dissemination framework, strategic partnerships with academia, private sector, farmers’ association and others have been the main engine of the sustainable improvement of agricultural technologies.
“APPSA is aimed at improving production, ensuring food security and nutrition for Mozambicans in general,” said Olga Fafetine, and she further explained that at country-level farmers have benefited from the technologies as evidenced by their income which has increased significantly.
Dr. Anabela Zacarias, APPSA Country Coordinator also briefly explained that APPSA programme advocates for the increase of agricultural productivity whose main beneficiary is the farmer.
The Inspector General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MASA), Félix Paulo, stressed the need to increase production and productivity using existing technologies, because in his opinion, it does not make any sense to continue with poor agricultural performance with the existing technological advancements.
Farmers’ testimonials
According to Gremo Matias, a farmer from Angónia District, Tete Province, the agricultural technologies developed by IIAM under APPSA contributed to the increase of his production.
“Before I benefited from APPSA technologies, my agricultural income was low and I could not fulfill my dreams. But today, I have high yields in my production and have already made some dreams come true from these innovations. "
Another farmer pleased with IIAM's interventions is Ms Isaltina Aly, from Malema District, Nampula Province, who today beams with unending joy because her production has increased since receiving APPSA training and technology.
“Before the advent of APPSA, I didn't know about these new farming techniques. So I could not get better results. With this APPSA program I see the growth of my production, and I want to praise the government for partnering with APPSA and IIAM”, she said.
APPSA is six years World Bank funded Program which started in 2013 coordinated by the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) which was implemented in Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. The programme is expanding to other countries and Lesotho and Angola have recently joined the programme which CCARDESA is promoting in the region because of its potential to increase the much needed investment in the agricultural sector.
