©FAO

9th September 2022- Calisto Gimo used to be a smallholder farmer like many others in his village, Nametória Sede, Angoche District, Nampula. 43 years old, married, 5 children. When in 2019, PROMOVE Agribiz invited him to multiply seeds of improved varieties under the programme co-funded by the European Union, Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Gimo admits that he "didn't even hesitate."

He started with peanut seeds, JL 24 variety, on 0.5 ha. In just 3 years, he expanded his seed multiplication area of improved varieties, added plots to his field, and doubled seed production.

Meanwhile, he has participated in trainings promoted by FAO, from the Farmer Field School (FFS) methodology to nutrition and home gardening as well as agribusiness.

"With the increase in income, plans increased, too"
Calisto Gimo, seed multiplier
Province: Nampula, District: Angoche

The farmer, who, before joining PROMOVE Agribiz, "shared a precarious house with his family, had no means of transportation, and produced food crops in an area of 0.25 ha for subsistence," says that, with the sale of the first seeds, he began by buying a bicycle and building a small warehouse. Little by little he "increased his income and, with it, his plans," he shares with a broad smile.

SEED SYSTEM
Fostering quality from the bottom up

Aiming to expand the supply of quality seeds, PROMOVE Agribiz programme supports policy formulation and strengthens key players in the sector – from breeders to local producers, certification laboratories and researchers, as well as the private sector and decision-making bodies.

FARMER FIELD SCHOOL (FFS)
Learning by doing – the agricultural school with no walls

The FFS methodology is based on the active participation of a group of smallholder farmers who, in a community field, develop new knowledge through observation and experience exchange to solve challenges in their fields and thus increase production and productivity.
The implementation of the FFS contributes to increasing the capacity of extension services to support farmers, covering more producers with fewer technicians.
Today, he wants to go further: within the FFS, which he created in 2020 as part of PROMOVE Agribiz and has been running since then, he intends to develop a wholesale business selling the seeds he multiplies, together with other members of the school, to companies in the city of Nampula and an agro dealer in his village, also participating in PROMOVE Agribiz.
"For us, seed producers, the [e-voucher] card system is very good," Gimo says. "With the card, we buy seeds at the agro dealer and we can sell our own seeds to the agro dealer. So we benefit", he said.

In his own field, what he wants is, "first of all, to acquire a motor pump and build a water reserve to irrigate his fields," to continue to increase the seed multiplication areas, which, from peanut seeds have been extended to also grow seeds of cowpea and pidgeon pea as well as cassava cuttings. He also wants to build a bigger warehouse and establish a community seed bank "so that other local multipliers also benefit". And he wants something he once could not even imagine: to have his seeds certified by the National Seed Authority (NSA).

PROMOVE Agribiz
"For a sustainable and market-oriented agriculture"

PROMOVE Agribiz programme aims to contribute to increasing the productivity and resilience of smallholder farmers by improving the delivery of agricultural extension and financial services, and by fostering business partnerships with companies along agrifood value chains in Nampula and Zambézia provinces.
One of six programmes funded by the European Development Fund (EDF) as an integrated approach to rural development in the two provinces, PROMOVE Agribiz is implemented by
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Bank Development Impact Evaluation (DIME), and the National Fund for Sustainable Development (FNDS).