The shift from subsistence farming to surplus farming is about more than simply increasing production. Farmers face many hurdles that have to be overcome, and women farmers in particular often face serious barriers to progress.

Activities this September at ADPP Farmers Club projects across the country demonstrate the wideranging elements that together support and empower women farmers to break down barriers.

Literacy, disease prevention, commercialisation of produce and economic diversification are among highights this month. World Literacy Day on 8 September focused attention on the importance of literacy skills among farmers. The day was celebrated in Quibala, Cuanza Sul, with the official launch of the Women’s Economic Empowerment project in the province, bringing together municipal education, agriculture, judicial and banking authorities. In Malanje, the Municipal Administrator, Agricultural Director, Municipal Head of Education, traditional and religious authorities, representatives of IPA, FAS and ADRA, and social partners joined literacy tutors and literacy learners celebrated literacy as a means of empowering not only women but men as well as society as a whole.

FC Luanda held a malaria testing campaign in collaboration with the Ministry of Health at Cabiri Health Post. Reducing the incidence of all preventable diseases improves people’s quality of life. For women farmers, it also means less time spent looking after sick members of the family and more time available for agricultural production and sale.

Agricultural production and sale are obviously key components at Farmers Clubs. WFC Cuanza Norte farmers displayed their produce at the 4th edition of Expo Cuanza Norte in Ndalatando, along with representatives from all the municipalities in the province, large and medium size businesses, producers and others. Showcasing produce at agricultural fairs helps link farmers with buyers.

Farmers Clubs Lóvua, in Lunda Norte, which is helping refugee and local farmers develop horticulture for own consumption and for sale at markets, is in full swing with the cultivation and harvesting of cucumber, carrots and many other vegetables.

At the other end of the country in Bibala, Namibe Province, the first beans of the season are being harvested by members of Farmer Field Schools. Despite the lack of water, the work never stops.

The environment is very much in focus, with global warming and climate change threatening livelihoods and life itself. Sustainable development is key but explaining the problem is not easy, especially to people living in rural or remote parts of the country and eking out a living without even the basics such as safe drinking water, electricity, or roads; and what solutions exist for them to contribute to sustainability while making improvements in their own potential to earn a living?

ADPP projects in Huambo work with just these questions. Teacher Training School ADPP Huambo, ADPP Polytechnic Huambo and Frontline Institute all have a tradition of cultivating vegetable gardens using conservation farming methods, both as a learning tool as well as a means of supplying the school kitchens with fresh healthy produce. Frontline Institute is closely involved in a project to help communities develop a sustainable charcoal industry, promoting tree planting, improving methods of producing charcoal, and providing training for traditional leaders and members of the community in conservation. EPP Huambo is collaborating with a project to produce and promote efficient charcoal stoves and to make briquettes from charcoal residue.

All these efforts received official recognition when the Ministry of the Environment's coordinator for the charcoal project, UNDP and IDEF visited Quissala on September 18 2021. During the visit, the guests enjoyed displays at ADPP Polytechnic Huambo about the EPP programme and demonstrations of stove production. They tried their hand at producing charcoal briquettes and posed many technical questions.

At Frontline Institute, the guests learned about the work with the forest management and charcoal project, about the participating communities, tree planting, tree nurseries, Community Action Groups and training for traditional leaders.  They visited the vegetable garden and the nursery with more than 3000 plants as well as tree saplings to distribute in nearby communities. At TTS ADPP Huambo, the students had prepared a display of drawings from a primary school drawing competition on the environment, and they explained about the microprojects they carry out during long-term teaching practice.

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.