Small-scale subsistence farmers have been receiving a helping hand at ADPP Famers’ Club projects to raise the level of their production in a sustainable way and create surplus for sale. However, marketing of this surplus is often a barrier to further progress, and the women farmers already face many barriers as they try to make a living for themselves and their families. 

ADPP Women Farmers’ Club Malanje in Calandula Municipality has reached the stage where production has risen, the farmers are producing a greater variety of crops, many are adding value by processing for example cassava to make flour, and the clubs are organised on selling surplus. To provide yet more support for the empowerment of women farmers and take marketing a step further, the project participated in an agricultural fair at the beginning of September, organised by the municipal authorities, to celebrate Calandula’s 92 years of existence.

The project stall showcased Women’s Farmers Club Malanje and women’s economic empowerment activities, and many women farmers brought produce such as tomatoes, bananas, cassava, greens and groundnuts from their fields to display and sell. On one day alone, they made 48,000 kwanzas.   

Members of the Farmer Clubs in Luanda are busy strengthening supply chain links. Vegetable harvests are good this year and in addition to producing for consumption, the farmers are busy with sales. They recently delivered 16 boxes of tomatoes for sale at a supermarket in Kilamba, and two club presidents had meetings with an agricultural buyer with a view to selling more produce. 

Mr Valter Matias, a buyer of agricultural products, meeting with two Club presidents.

Green peppers are growing well.

One of the 16 crates of tomatoes delivered to a supermarket for sale.

Long hampered by lack of access to market, Women Farmers Clubs in Cuanza Sul have been forging ahead with their agricultural and horticultural production, cultivating both for home consumption as well as for sale. 

The new three-wheeled motorbike/trailer is a big help for the Club members in order to get their products to the market.

Members of Women Farmers Clubs in Cuanza Sul with their agricultural products.

The farmers are producing both for consumption and for sale.

Club members received a boost recently in the form of a new three-wheeled motorbike & trailer that is helping them get produce to market. Transport is always a problem, because of the distance from field to market, the poor state of rural roads and the lack of suitable – and affordable - vehicles. Having a three-wheeler motorbike/trailer, aptly named “Take Action” – has already helped Cahatela Club take horticultural produce to the municipal market in Quibala, where they earned 11,000kz from sales. Kilala Fazenda Club also benefited this month when they transported onions and cabbage to the municipal market. Such was the eagerness of the many customers who did not want to miss out on fresh organic products that the project was concerned about social distancing. Indeed, measures and strategies are currently being developed to avoid future incidents of overcrowding at the market.

There was more good news at Women Farmers Club Cuanza Sul when Quibala Municipal Director of Social Affairs, the Family and the Promotion of Women, Henriqueta Ebo Antônio Amélia, paid a visit to see for herself the flourishing horticultural production at the hands of the Women Farmers Club members.

Female entrepreneurship is recognised as playing an important role in the economy. After a successful first edition of the Fair of Produce of Women Entrepreneurs (FEPROMEFA) held in May 2021 in Porto Amboim, the second edition of this quarterly event was held in Seles municipality, in August. Women Farmers Club Cuanza Sul again participated, displaying avocados, two varieties of bananas, onions, sweet potatoes, peppers, black beans and maize. This was just a selection of the produce from Women Farmers Club Cuanza Sul farmers’ fields, as the road to Seles is not very good and full of curves, which makes transporting large quantities a bit difficult. Visitors to the stand were enthusiastic and exchanged telephone numbers with the club representatives so they could organise orders and deliveries. 

Women Farmers Clubs Cuanza Sul have been supported by Exxon since 2012.  A new initiative in collaboration with USAID and involving ADPP farming projects in six provinces, is focusing on further empowerment of women farmers by tackling land rights and ensuring all participants have the tools for active citizenship, whether documentation, literacy or health, in addition to a sound economy.

Henriqueta Ebo Antônio Amélia, the Municipal Director of Social Affairs, the Family and the Promotion of Women paid a visit to the club in Quibala.

Women Farmers Club Cuanza Sul participated in Fair of Produce of Women Entrepreneurs.

A selection of the produce from Women Farmers Club Cuanza Sul farmers’ fields.

Eu sou Graciano Nilton, tenho 23 anos de idade, residente na comuna do Mbave, específicamente na aldeia de Tchissaco.
O projecto social carvão sustentável é um projecto valioso para as comunidades alvos no combate as alterações climáticas, e beneficamente dentro dos seus princípios fundamenta a preservação da fauna e flora.
Juntamente com o Grupo de Acção Ambiental onde faço parte, elaboramos no verdadeiro sentido, a busca de sustentabilidade das nossas próprias comunidades em desenvolver a silvicultura. E desde o mês de março, do ano em curso tenho aprendido partilhar experiências sobre tudo o que temos idealizado em comum.
Estou muito grato por ter feito parte do trabalho do projecto. E as mesmas funções de trabalho levaramm-me a novas experiências, paixão pelo trabalho e sonhos para alcançar novos métodos de subsistências para o nosso ambiências local.
Desenvolvemos as áreas da silvicultura, apicultura e na agricultura sustentável para não só depender da produção de carvão. Todos esses meios de subsistências dão-nos a visão de novas coisas que temos de pôr em funcionamento para podermos assim viver a realidade das coisas.
Portanto vou aqui dizer que as áreas de reservas florestais onde contamos as árvores (fizemos inventários florestal participativo na comunidade) vamos seguir junto os sobas.

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Parte do projeto piloto "Uso sustentável da biomassa florestal e uso de tecnologias mais eficientes para a produção de carvão vegetal" é implementado pela ADPP nas províncias de Huambo e Cuanza Sul. A primeira fase começou em 2017, enquanto a fase 2 começou em 2019. O projeto é implementado em colaboração com o Ministério da Cultura, Turismo e Ambiente, UNDP e GEF.