2 January 2009
Maputo — The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is implementing a new project aimed at improving food access for more than 100,000 Mozambicans living in rural areas, in Zambezia province, through a three-year income generation project.
This project, scheduled to end in July of 2011, is financed by a 12 million dollars grant from the Unites States Agency for International Development (USAID) Title II program and a one million dollars from ADRA International.
According to a press release posted on ADRA's website, "the project will increase crop sales and productivity, improve health and nutrition, create better access to clean water and sanitation facilities, and strengthen communities' resilience to disaster situations within the targeted regions".
The project, titled Osanzaya Zambezia, will be implemented in the districts of Mocuba, Maganja da Costa, Ile, Pebane, and Lugela in the northern Zambezia province.
ADRA expects to help 60,000 people increase agricultural production and extend access to health care, nutrition, and water and sanitation services to 62,000 people.
Currently, there are some 22,000 beneficiaries enrolled in the health and agricultural components of this project.
Through the income generation component, ADRA is helping establish and strengthen local farmers groups and associations in improved production techniques, business skills, marketing, and literacy.
On this component of income generation, ADRA collaborates with ADPP-Mozambique, Ajuda de Desenvolvimento de Povo para Povo, a local organization that will help improve crop production, and provide business skills training for farmers.
"ADRA is also working to increase household incomes by promoting the use of higher quality seeds, focusing more attention on crops with a higher profitability margin, improving marketing communications systems and maximizing retention of crop yields through improved post harvest methods, including handling, processing and storage", states the document.
Osanzaya Zambezia also aims to enable young children to receive improved nutrition and health services by strengthening community health councils, training health volunteers and establishing health and nutrition communication groups. These methods will also help promote positive health messages and practices, such as growth monitoring, hygiene, diet diversification, food preparation, breast-feeding, and disease prevention techniques.
Through its focus on promoting good hygiene practices, access to potable water by constructing water filters and rehabilitating hand-pumps and hand-dug wells, ADRA aims to increase by 40 percent the number of caregivers who utilize and promote healthy behaviour.
ADRA will also train communities in the districts of Maganja da Costa, Pebane, Mocuba, and Namacurra to better respond to local disasters such as droughts, floods, and cyclones.
As to increase disaster early warning and response systems, the project will provide mitigation kits to local communities.
Currently, some 450 000 people are acutely food insecure in Mozambique according to recent data by Mozambique's Agriculture Ministry.
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