Good agricultural practices and food security for a hopeful future

It is going to be a year full of initiatives and training paths that ASeS is about to embark on in Mozambique in the Maputo area where it operates. This is a poor area where the population lives on virtually no income and where the terrible scourge of malnutrition is, along with lack of access to an adequate health care system, a major cause of death. These days, thanks to the work of staff member Daniele Gallo, the start of 2020 activities was inaugurated at a large outdoor party.

First, there was the handover of tasks between the 2019 beneficiaries and this year’s “protagonists”.So many commitments that ASeS took on in this corner of the world because, as always when trying to ensure a useful path for peoples in need of economic but also social development, there are many fronts on which to operate. Different activities that meet and intertwine and this is to ensure a future of hope, dignity and rights. Therefore, it is crucial to start from the land itself in order to achieve environmental improvement in agriculture and economics and to consolidate the role of these farmers in order to ensure that strength to have a voice in territorial socio-political choices.

Courses introducing tools and techniques to improve production activities will start soon; agronomic management concepts will be developed based on observing and responding to the variations that exist within cultivated areas, and this is in accordance with the damage caused by climate change that is endangering the fragile and vulnerable primary sector. The next step will be the application of all those actions aimed at optimizing the management of cultivated lands and an overview of their potential. All of this is to achieve, using available means, to improve productivity in terms of sustainability, time, quality and possibly cost.

These purely “technical” courses will be flanked by training sessions dedicated to food safety, in order to initiate a process that will ensure a sufficient amount of wholesome food for the families and patients, many of whom are HIV-positive, of Xinavane Hospital (Manhica district in Maputo province) . Crucial will be the constant involvement of the local population, so any intervention cannot fail to take into account factors such as citizen resilience, climate, and geographic location. To get to the point of solidifying what the intentions are, basic was the decision to cooperate not only with local farmers, offering notions on the best techniques for cultivation, seeds, fertilizers, breeding and food preservation, but also with a local nutritionist and hospital leaders.