Agricultural training and initial equipment

Agricultural training that puts women at the center

While work continues to complete the São Francisco Agricultural Institute, the friars travel among the 74 villages in the Manica and Jécua areas to conduct agricultural training courses. Through this work, they raise awareness about the most modern, efficient, and eco-friendly techniques for vegetable gardening, including the use of locally produced seeds—which are more economical and of better varieties—and the preparation of natural fertilizers and insecticides that respect the land and its produce. At the same time, they provide the basic tools for tending the land: hoes, shovels, and rakes are essential for sowing seeds and awaiting the harvest.

The training is aimed at all households, with a particular focus on women, who alone make up over 85% of the agricultural workforce and are effectively responsible for their families’ food security. For women living in rural areas of Mozambique, learning to farm means having the opportunity to put enough food on the table every day to feed their children, in a country where more than half of all children are malnourished. By moving beyond a purely subsistence-based economy, these women farmers can set a goal of selling their surplus produce and earning enough to meet their families’ other needs.