Lauch of Horticultura Comercial Program

Mrs. Margarida Lemos showing Ambassador Marie Andersson de Frutos the pepper plantation in newly constructed greenhouse at her farm

The Embassy is providing support to iDE since end of 2016 and the program “Strengthening the Missing Middle in Agribusiness for Rapid Transformation – SMART” (USD 5 million). The program is built around the concept that the smallholder farmers and small scale commercial farmers should be the drivers of change and the vehicle to obtain an integrated rural development, in which the smallholder farmer should increase production and also obtain a larger share of the existing market. This should be obtained by improving the access to the needed agriculture inputs, services and markets for smallholder farmers, and this should be provided on market terms. The program should not provide free handout, but facilitate access and in some cases provide subsidies to strengthen demand if needed.

The program is implemented in the provinces of Maputo, Tete, Manica, Sofala and Maputo (see Embassy one pager).