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Small-Scale Farmers Help Fight Hunger
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Photo: ACDI/ VOCA
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Members of Associacão Kugorike Tangue Nhamo formally delivered sacks of corn they produced for sale to the World Food Program attended by Mozambican government officials and others.
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In Mozambique, 15 small-scale farmers accomplished a major success in 2004 when they sold 100 metric tons of corn to the World Food Program, a U.N. agency that provides food aid to relieve hunger in emergency situations.
The farmers belong to Associacão Kugarike Tangue Nhamo, an organization of small-scale farmers in Mavonde in central Mozambique's Manica Province. Since March 2003, the group of seven women and eight men has been receiving support and training in business development from USAID in marketing, money management, private contract farming and business association management.
Following several smaller-scale business successes, the cooperative decided to contract with the World Food Program. After developing a business plan with USAID's support, Associacão Kugarike Tangue Nhamo borrowed money to purchase donkeys, bicycles, bags, scales, accounting ledgers and other necessary equipment. They collected corn at four sites, then hand winnowed, sun dried, and processed it using modern machinery to meet the World Food Program's high quality standards.
The corn was formally delivered to WFP at a ceremony in Chimoio, Manica's provincial capital, in September 2004. It sold for a price of $204 per metric ton - more than double the price group members would have received from local buyers. The sale marked the first time that the World Food Program purchased corn directly from a local cooperative of small-scale farmers in Mozambique.
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