Losing Ground

Around the world, traditional farming techniques are contributing to a steady degradation of the soils needed to feed an expanding population.

In fact, about a third of the world’s soil has already been degraded, according to Maria-Helena Semedo of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)— and if the current rate of degradation is maintained, we only have 60 harvests left. In Mozambique, for example, years of planting the same crops on the same land have depleted the soil’s fertility, including its nitrogen and organic matter content, and increasingly frequent hot, dry weather is exacerbating the problem.

Sustainable Farming for the Future

Land O’Lakes Venture37, in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future, is working to solve this through the Resilient Agricultural Markets Activity-Beira Corridor (RAMA-BC) initiative, which introduces local smallholder farmers in Mozambique to practices that increase their productivity, profitability and resilience to climate change

The initiative establishes model family farms that show nearby farmers the value of, for example, practicing minimum tillage, intercropping of nitrogen-fixing legumes in maize fields to replenish soil health, repel unwanted pests, and provide additional out-of-season source nutrition for families.

Impact

In 2019, Land O’Lakes Venture37 and USAID helped nearly 8,000 farmers implement resilient agricultural technologies or management practices.

And since the project began in 2017, the program has encouraged the improvement of more than 51,000 hectares (or 126,000 acres) of land, worked with 41 private sector enterprises (such as seed companies and agrodealers) and formed 21 public-private, community-based partnerships based in the communities.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, messages about sanitation— particularly on handwashing— have been integrated into programming with a reach of 4,000 people.