Thesoyaboomandagro-foodsystemschangeinruralMozambique7February2017

Africanfoodsystemsareundergoingdeeptransforma3onsevidencedbythegrowingcommercializa3onandfinancialisa3onofnaturalresourcesintheinterestofpursingthecorpora3sa3onofthefoodsystemfromfarminginputs,totheproduc3onaswellastheprocessingandretailingoffood.

Introduc3on

Agro-foodsystem:defini3onsandconcepts•  TheFAOde)inesagro-foodsystemsas:

“thesetofinstitutionsandactivitieswhichcombinetomakeanddistributeagro-foodproducts,andconsequentlyacttomeethumannutritionneedsinaparticularsociety.”

•  Abroaderfoodsystemsapproachhighlightstherela3onships,interac3onsand

dependenciesofdiverseagentsthatcoordinatetheac3vi3esofinputproviders,producersanddownstreamagentsacrossscales,levelsandspace(FriedmannandMcMichael1989).

•  Agro-foodsystemsalsohaveastrongpoli3caleconomydimensionasthesesystemsappor3onbenefits,costs,andrisksamongpar3cipants,includingconsumers,workers,managers,farmers(Weiss,T.2007)

ResearchScopeandbackground•  Gurúèdistrict,isahigh

poten3alagro-ecologicalzone,locatedinthecentralpartoftheZambèziaProvince,innorthernMozambique.

•  AccordingtoTechnoServe,Gurúèhasapproximately4,000soyabeanfarmersagainst10,000intheprovinceand19,000inthecountry(2016)

Whoaretheinvestors?•  GurúèdistricthasaYractedthreemajorkindsofagro-investorsfrom2008:•  Thefirstgroupconsistsoflarge-scalelandinvestmentsforcommercialfarming

•  Asecondgroupconsistsofagribusiness•  Thelastgroupismadeupofinterna3onaldevelopmentprogrammesorpublicinvestors

Theimpactofagro-investment•  The three major commercial farms opera3ng in the district, have acquired

collec3velyacquired15,200hectaresofland.Thishasled changesintheuseandcontrolofland

•  SeYlement dispersal of farmers, as a result of the dispossession of localfarmersfromtheir landhasalsoledtothereduc3oninmembership/collapseof farmers associa3ons through which farmers would access credit andmarkets

•  Significantreduc3onincropproduc3onbyemergingmiddlefarmers,whoarealsorecyclingseedsandpar3cipa3nginseedbanks

•  Specializa3on in cash crops is also associated with the deple3on of naturalresources,thedisappearanceofindigenoustradi3onalcropvarie3es

Reconfigura3onoffarminginputsupply•  Interna3onal,privateandpublicen33esarepromo3ngtheexpansionofsoya

produc3onthroughtheprovisionofseedbysuppor3ngoutgrowerseedbanks,subsidizedseedshops,anddecentralizedmarke3ngagentsoncommission.

•  Agri-businessinvestorshaverestructuredtheseedinputsupplybypromo3ngnewvarie3esofcer3fiedseedsformaizeandbeansinGurúè

•  Produc3onisslowlychangingfromthemanualtosemi-mechanizedamongsttheemergingmiddlefarmers

•  Whilemostfarmershaveembracedsoyaproduc3on,therehasbeenresistancetowardstheuseofcer3fiedseedsforstaplefoodcropssuchasmaizeamongthemajorityofsmall-scalefarmers

Indigenousseedsvs.improvedseeds“We prefer indigenous seed because it is genetically pure. The local seed is more resistant to certain kinds of diseases in the area and to drought and climate change. The hybrid seeds are more prone to diseases and drought. We can also not recycle the hybrid seed and once the external investors leave where we shall get the seed. The only way you can get the seed is in the market. We know that one can get higher yields from the hybrid seed but that is if all conditions are fine. For example, this year because of drought, those farmers who used hybrid seeds harvested little and now face food shortages.”

Soyaboom•  Produc3onofsoyagrainisbeingembracedbyalargepropor3onofofsmall-scale

farmers,whohaveorarebenefi3ngfromprogrammed•  In2015,small-scalefarmers,thoseproducingon0.1to15hectaresintheirdifferen3ated

nature,produced21,490tonnesofsoyatotaloutputcomparedto11,947tonnesbythelargecommercialfarms.

Crop Areaplanted(hectare) TotaloutputSoya 11,232 21,490Sunflower 690 690Tobacco 775 530Sesame 245 123

Readymarkets(1)•  Theinterna3onalpublicinvestorsprovidemarketsforsoya

seed,soyabeansandmaize-TechnoServeandWFPweretheleadingbuyersfromthissector.

•  Cargill,whichisthemainbuyerfromlarge-scalecommercialfarmers,alsobuysmaizeandsoyafromthesmall-scale.

•  Therearenewmiddle-menemerging,mainlyBangladeshiandSomaliantraderswhobuyearlyintheseasonfromlocalfarmers,rightaberharvest,whenpricesarelowtoreselllaterintheseason

Readymarkets(2)•  Atana3onallevel,HoyoHoyoAgri-businessandAgroMozsupplythethreelargestpoultrycompaniesinMozambique-AbilioAntunes,FrangoKingandNovosHorizonteswithsoybeansandmaizeforstockfeed.–  Localsupplyofstockfeedhascontributedtodropinchickenconsump3on

•  However,HoyoHoyoAgri-businessandAgromozoperatewithoutformalproduc3on-marke3ngcontracts.

Bigfarmsarestruggling•  Thelarge-scalecommercialfarmsarestrugglingtorealizetheprojectyields/hareturnsandexpectedreturnsontheirinvestment.

•  HoyoHoyoandAgroMozreportedatargetof5-6tonnes/haformaize,butbothhavefailedtoreachthistarget–  Forsoybean,AgroMozcitedthatinonefieldtheyproduced1.7tonnes/hawhichislessthantheirtargetof2.4tonnesandlessthanwhatisbeingproducedbysomeemergingmiddlefarmers,whoareproducingonaverage2.1tonnes/ha.Emergingfarmers,managedtoproduceupto2.1tonnes/haofsoya.

–  Large-scalecommercialfarmershaveaYributedtheseveralfactors:

Changingdiets•  Soyaisslowlyaffec3ngwhatisbeingservedontheplate•  Thereisavibrantmarketforsoybreadrollsinthevillagesinthedistrict.•  Agroupofwomenareprocessingsoyalocallyandproducingsoyamilk.

growingconsump3onofsoyfoodsinGurúè,whichisonethelargestproducersofsoya,therehasbeenariseinchickenconsump3onascheapsourceofprotein

•  Thepublicsectorandinterna3onalpublicsectorisalsoimplemen3ngprojectstopromotevegetableproduc3onandconsump3onaswellaspoultryproduc3on.

•  Promo3onofsoyaproduc3onanduseofcer3fiedseedsthroughsubsidiestackleoneaspectoffarmer’sneeds,thatisthepriceconstraint,andonlyforsomeinputs

•  Themainchannelthroughwhichcashcropsaffectfoodsecurityisthroughincome.However,inthecontextofhighlymechanizedcommercialfarming,jobopportuni3esarelimited.

•  Theimpactsaredifferen3atedastherearelosersandwinners,thosestrugglingtoaccessopportuni3esandthoseexploi3ngnewopportuni3estotheirbenefit

•  Thedisplacementoffarmersfromfarmland,watersources,naturalresourcesandgrazinglandhasdiminishedtheirfoodgrowingcapacity.ThishaslebmanytosourcefoodfromthemarketyetwithliYlecashincome.

Conclusion