INDEX

PROJECT OVERVIEW ...... 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 4 IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTIVITIES ...... 6 ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR THE NEXT REPORTING PERIOD ...... 15 LESSONS LEARNED ...... 17 COLLABORATION WITH PROJECT ACTORS ...... 17 MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION ...... 17 ANNEX I: RAMA-BC SEED SYSTEM SURVEY KEY RESULTS 2021 ...... 19 ANNEX II: ANNUAL PERFORMANCE DATA TABLE (APDT) ...... 22

Image (cover): Cassava multiplication field in Guara Guara community in the district of Buzi, province

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ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

BCC Behavior Change Communications CA Conservation Agriculture CBSP Community Based Service Provider CIP International Potato Center CITT Centre for the Integration of Technology Transfer CSA Climate Smart Agriculture DPASA Provincial Directorates of Agriculture and Food Security DPIC Provincial Department of Industry and Commerce FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FAW Fall Armyworm FTF Feed the Future FTs Farmer Trainers GBV Gender Based Violence Gm / CCS Green manure / cover crops or mulch crops GOM Government of ICS Institute of Social Communication IDE International Development Enterprises IIAM Agricultural Research Institute of Mozambique IMPACTS M & E platform used in RAMA-BC ISPM Superior Mozambique Polytechnic Institute Inova Agricultural Innovations (DAI) IPM Integrated Pest Control K2 Klein Karoo Seed Company MFF Model Family Farm M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MNK Mobile Night Kraal MOU Memorandum of Understanding NGO Non-Governmental Organizations OFSP Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato OU Observational Unit RAMA-BC Resilient Agricultural Markets Activity - Beira Corridor RAMA- NC Resilient Agricultural Markets activity - Nacala Corridor SDAE District Economic Activity Services SEMEAR FTF project focused on the adoption of improved seeds TOR Terms of Reference TOT Training of Trainers UEM University of Eduardo Mondlane VSLA Village Savings and Loans Association

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PROJECT OVERVIEW Activity start / end date: December 12, 2016 - December 12, 2022 Implementing partner: Land O'Lakes Venture37 Project Description: Since December 2016 – the six-year USAID Feed the Future, Resilient Agricultural Markets Activity - Beira Corridor (RAMA-BC) has supported local producers to increase agricultural productivity, profitability, and resilience. RAMA-BC aims to promote the adoption of sustainable, accessible, and affordable agricultural technologies and practices by supporting and facilitating private sector involvement to test and develop profitable business models that provide relevant information, consulting services, inputs, market links and finance. The project currently operates in nine districts in Manica and Sofala provinces.

RAMA-BC consists of four components: 1. Behavior Change Communication (BCC) - development and implementation of a comprehensive BCC strategy, multimedia campaign and local promotion through private partners and civil society; 2. Model Family Farms (MFF) - provision of business consultancy and technical assistance services through a network of community-based demonstration fields and one-hectare Observation Units (based in agricultural colleges); 3. Sustainable Extension Services - strengthening of private extension services through Model Family Farms and local and community-based service providers, in coordination with public extension service networks; and 4. Strengthened Market Systems – tailored technical assistance to private sector partners and subsidies to stimulate innovation in the agricultural sector.

Geographic Coverage: RAMA-BC currently targets nine FTF districts in the Beira Corridor's area of influence; namely Gondola, , Barué, Sussundenga, Vanduzi, Macate (province of Manica); Nhamatanda, Buzi and Dondo (). In addition to the expansion to Sofala, the project also expanded to the Dombe administrative post in the .

Map 1: Map of RAMA-BC coverage by district in Manica and Sofala provinces.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY During this reporting period, January– March 2021, RAMA-BC started distributing Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato cuttings in Cyclone Idai affected Sofala Province districts, beginning in where nearly 500 households received four varieties. Following tropical storm Chalane in December 2020, the project areas were impacted by heavy rains during this quarter, including another Cyclone, Eloise, resulting in waterlogging in many fields and the destruction of about 3.5ha of cassava multiplication, which is in the process of being replanted.

Climate change with excess rain in the center of the country and prolonged dry weather in the north and south, has rendered resilience ever more urgent. In March 2021, Land O'Lakes Venture37 (Venture37) applied for a No Cost Extension (NCE) to extend the period of performance through December 2022. This NCE will enable the project to accelerate adaptation through multiplication of improved, disease resistant varieties of cassava and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) to benefit 20,000 farmers through the end of 2022.

Diversification as part of the ‘whole farm system’ approach includes small livestock productivity. As part of a pilot to improve small ruminant stockfeed availability, the project hosted small scale livestock producers from Manica to visit small scale commercial farm in Bela Bela, South Africa where they learned about improved management and regeneration of pastures, raised productivity of cattle, pigs, goats and poultry of scalable technologies applicable to both small scale and commercial sectors.

Partnerships with public and educational institutions fulfill a key advocacy role and expose decision makers to the practice of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA). RAMA-BC has partnered with Agricultural Research Institute of Mozambique (IIAM), University of Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) and two of the Centre for the Integration of Technology Transfer (CITT) and others, to conduct research effects of intercropping on maize yield and on FAW (Fall Army Worm) control through the installation of 13 trial plots across three districts. RAMA-BC has also partnered with the government agricultural extension service, who are managing, for another season, 17 CSA/intercrop demonstration plots of their own.

In this quarter, RAMA-BC produced a set of seven audio programs from the library of 16 training videos that cover CSA, nutrition, and Savings Groups for diffusion in small, dispersed groups. These audios are currently being broadcast on the five community radios, whilst the video set is being broadcast on community TV in Chimoio.

An overview – by component is highlighted below:

Component 1. RAMA-BC conducted a total of 90 events in the reporting period, reaching a wide audience through radio programs and spots, and community dialogue. These radio programs focused on post-harvest and integrated pest management using jackbean and neem extracts.

Component 2. This quarter, RAMA-BC has established, together with partners from SDAE and Marera College, 123 MFFs in Manica and Sofala provinces, where CSA techniques are being modeled and evaluated under farmers own conditions. Twenty-two of these MFFs were set up by government partners and agricultural colleges. Yield measurements have started, with IIAM leading the process, the results will be complete and reported in the next quarter. RAMA-BC is diversifying livelihoods, post Cyclone Idai, to increase climate resilience and adaptation; whilst reducing dependency on maize as the principal staple through the planting out of over seven hectares of two varieties of cassava - resistant to cassava mosaic disease (Chinhembwe and Amarelinha – released by IIAM and 3.4 hectares of five varieties of OFSP, released

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by CIP (International Potato Centre). Twenty-five producers are growing out the material. RAMA-BC has also partnered with a local Nhamatanda farmer to reproduce 2,000 neem seedlings, from his own trees. These seedlings will be directed at MFF members to help control pests such as FAW and locusts, a third have already been distributed.

RAMA-BC is facilitating a partnership with the Municipality of Chimoio (CAC) and the Centre for the Integration of Technology Transfer (CITT) in the city of Chimoio. Currently most urban waste is organic, needlessly, and expensively being transported to a landfill where it rots and emits greenhouse gases. Rubbish which piles up or is not collected by the municipal trucks is burnt, with smoke polluting the city air. The CITT has a dedicated earthworm production facility on the outskirts of Chimoio and is keen to promote the use of earthworms in urban gardens, which are becoming increasingly important to food security in an economic downturn. To operationalize this, RAMA-BC is recruiting a technician who will work with CAC and CITT to promote regenerative urban agriculture with earthworms. The objective of this pilot is also environmental – to reduce the burden of organic waste disposal and involve the informal sector in rubbish collection and compost manufacture. This activity will get going in the next quarter.

Component 3. Engagement with four seed companies, seven universities, colleges a training center and technology centers - which included seven Observation Units that demonstrate practical CSA to students - along with 14 student interns; five community radios, government SDAEs in five districts has helped to broaden the reach of CSA through other extension networks and actors. Through this cooperation the project has continued to partner with the University of Eduardo Mondlane on testing the efficacy of cover crops in repelling FAW moths.

The project was encouraged to learn that UniZambeze in Chimoio will be including RAMA-BC’s technical material (manual, briefs, and training videos) in their revised curriculum of agricultural engineering. IIAM has also partnered with RAMA-BC, to directly measure and monitor yield and biomass1 production results from nine MFFs in Nhamatanda, Barue and Dondo districts and analyse data collection from a further six MFFs in Gondola and Macate districts; this season’s results will be reported in May. This season more autonomy has been given to IIAM, so that their independence and objectivity is reinforced, to raise the quality of the evidence gathered.

Over last quarter, RAMA-BC trained 549 producers on botanical control of pests and yield management.

Component 4. RAMA-BC recently entered a partnership and has finalized an MoU with the company Café de Manica. Café de Manica will produce organic coffee combined with indigenous trees and cover crops in the buffer zone around the Chimanimani National Park. This activity currently involves 152 small producers for a 65-hectare planting area.

RAMA-BC has continued to partner with four seed companies, showcasing their varietal performance through the network of MFFs. Phoenix, at its own expense, has established a 9ha plot (3ha of two varieties of lablab and 6ha of jackbean) for both trials and multiplication. Once lablab efficacy has been determined, Phoenix will include the best variety of lablab in the composite seed pack marketing in 2021.

This quarter RAMA-BC trained over 2,500 people (55% women) on gender equity, nutrition, and Savings Group management. At the end of this quarter, the ‘snapshot’ shows that 23 Savings Groups with 626 members (58% women), have mobilized $35,192 in savings and loaned out $29,350 to members to finance a diverse range of activity, both consumption and business related, including one woman who started a

1 [1] Biomass production has an impact on improving Soil Organic Matter content, which is a factor in soil health.

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RAMA-BC has also continued its partnerships with the two technology transfer centers in Bandula and in the Barué district, where it has installed two OUs. The project is also working with five parents of students from Marera College in Macate district who have set up their own MFFs using Resilient Agriculture technologies.

RAMA-BC has been in partnership with the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) since the 2018/19 season, with a research project to measure the impact of intercropping on FAW infestation levels. In this 2020/21 harvest, the two interns from UEM have an experimental plot at IIAM, where one intern is evaluating the effect of "different intercrops for FAW control" in an on-station trial. The other intern is evaluating the effect of "intercrops for FAW control in the family sector" in the districts of Macate, Gondola and Chimoio, in a series of on-farm trials. During the quarter, the interns established and are monitoring their field locations, collecting data on FAW, and harvesting maize in the Macate district, with maize awaiting harvest in the rest of their fields.

Based on the agreement that the project has with IIAM for the analysis of maize yields and intercropping, a protocol was developed for monitoring nine MFFs (3 in Barué, 3 in Sussundenga and 3 in Nhamatanda) in the 2020/2021 agricultural campaign.

During the quarter, IIAM conducted monitoring and evaluation visits (collection of qualitative data) in the 9 MFFs in three districts (Barué, Sussundenga and Nhamatanda) with the following objectives: • Assess the stage of development of crops in the field. • Evaluate the incidence of weeds and caterpillar damage from FAW. • Assess the damage caused by termites in the maize crop.

To standardize yield data collection, this quarter, IIAM carried out a training on collection and tabulation of data collection for the nine interns and four RAMA-BC facilitators from the districts of Macate, Gondola, Sussundenga, Barue and Chimoio. This training took place separately in each of the districts mentioned and was attended by the producers responsible for these demonstration fields. Similarly, some fields that were ready were harvested in the places where the training was carried out.

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• Technician selection and recruitment for RAMA-BC, CAC and CITT initiative • Identify 30 families interested in horticulture at home or urban agriculture • Train 30 families in home gardening at home or farms urban agriculture in the use of earthworms

4.3 Component III: Extension of sustainable services: • Harvesting and measuring yields in OUs • Harvesting and measuring the yield of the nine MFFs in partnership with IIAM • Conduct training for students with educational institutions and technology transfer center • Conduct field days at MMFs and OUs • Conduct training at MFFs using CSA videos and experiments • Harvesting and measuring yield in trials in partnership with UEM

4.4 Component IV: strengthened market systems: • Follow-up on seed sales to Savings Groups by seed companies • continue coaching for agrodealers in small business management • Participation of Seed Companies in Field Days in MMFs • linking Savings Groups to seed companies • Report seed sales results

4.5 Cross-cutting: Gender and Nutrition: • Demonstrations of cooking with local crops (in field days) • Coach on gender using exercises from the gender manual, • Training on Gender, Nutrition and Savings (through video projection) • Assist and strengthen existing savings groups liaise process with buyers of agricultural products

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LESSONS LEARNED • Jackbean as a botanic pesticide when fermented for 3 days was effective for the control of nymph stage locusts, to control adult locusts it was necessary to ferment for 7 days. • Urban agriculture is an opportunity for food security and resilience, existing resources, such as earthworms and organic matter availability can be leveraged through partnerships. • The use of videos and mobile projects has been very useful during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has limited the amount of meetings, but the projects use of videos and mobile projectors has enabling training sessions on CSA to be held in small groups, without tiring the trainers with repetitive work and maintaining safety. • There is great demand and willingness from universities to include CSA technical material in their curriculum. The seed survey has confirmed what was reported elsewhere that the informal market and acquisition of seed dwarfs the formal market. Allied to this is that the formal seed market is narrow, whereas the informal market is wide, resilient, and diverse, including root crops. • Regenerative livestock, integrated with CSA on crops, has the power to maximize productivity through simple techniques of controlling movement, without investing a lot in capital expenditure.

COLLABORATION WITH PROJECT ACTORS Links with relevant GOM ministries The project continues to have a good relationship with government institutions: mainly with IIAM (Performance measurement of RAMA-BC value chains for validation of CSA techniques); SDAE (Monitoring of project activities); UEM (FAW tests for validation of techniques) and CITT. Links with other USAID projects RAMA-BC participated in the USAID Agriculture Collaboration Learning and Adapting (CLA) Workshop. The CLA workshop was based on lessons learned and best practices accumulated by different stakeholders through various activities aimed at supporting the sustainable development of the Mozambican agricultural sector. This workshop took place with groups divided by various themes and RAMA-BC participated in 2 groups with the following themes: production and supply of seeds and resilience.

MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION Employees No changes this quarter Adaptation Activity No updated this quarter Monitoring and evaluation • Launching and cleaning data in the IMPACT system. • The project team started the collection of data from farmers in the project treatment area in all districts. This month will focus on measuring application of CSA techniques and the yield of some crops. The team has taken a more rigorous approach to this measurement by using a Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) phone application to measure the size of area under improved

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techniques. Additionally, the team will, measure the harvest for each target value chain by physically harvesting and weighing the harvest of a 5m x 5m area of the field that will be extrapolated to total area of the farmer. These changes in measurement will improve reliability of the data since it will reduce the error of recall. • Developed the terms of reference and a draft questionnaire for the CSA Behavior Change Adoption Study for the RAMA-BC Project. The objective of the research study is to understand how and why farmers modify or change their behavior to adapt practices and adopt new CSA technologies in the context of the RAMA project. Specifically, the research study seeks to understand how RAMA-BC interventions fit in the context of the continuous change in farmer behavior, from ignorance of CSA practices and technologies to awareness of CSA practices and technologies, concern, knowledge, motivation to change, adoption and practice experimental behavior change and, finally, sustained behavior change. • Developed and submitted CLA write-up on collaboration with research and education institutions for the USAID CLA case competition.

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Other value chains (cassava, sweet potato, pigeon pea and cowpeas) Currently the formal seed market is restricted to a relatively narrow range of crops, like maize, Phaseolus beans and vegetables8. However, in the interest of food security, adaptation to climate change and nutrition it is also important to consider alternatives, including traditional legumes, tubers, and tree crops. There is a wide range of location specific crops that are familiar to farmers, are important food security standbys and are only available in the informal market. Results for root crops and some legumes that were surveyed are summarized below:

o Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) and cassava are the only VCs with friends/neighbors/family as significant sources of seed – about a third, with the other two thirds coming from home storage. These crop seeds are not available in the formal market. Both cassava and sweet potato is multiplied vegetatively, this means that their genetic profile is not altered through what is effectively a cloning process, which does not involve pollination; and as such there is no need to ‘refresh’ the varieties at any future stage. This intra community diffusion of plant material is self- sustaining and has occurred throughout history, without the need for a commercial intervention to keep it going.

o As far as seed sourcing, pigeon peas are somewhat unique from maize and cowpea in this regard as well, in that they are commonly sourced informally (only 6% from agrodealers). Pigeon peas are already commonly grown as an intercrop in certain areas (e.g., northern Manica and central and S. Tete provinces). It is also self-pollinating, so keeps its genetic profile faithfully, without need for refreshing the variety.

o Again, for seed sourcing, cowpeas are an interesting one, it is possible that farmers buy more of cowpea from agrodealers (22%), to get hold of the short cycle (2.5 months) as opposed to the 4– 5-month indeterminate variety which they commonly already have (A survey from Minag (2020) that 41% of HH have cowpea). The informal market is interesting as it is more accessible, has a wider range of products on offer that are also better adapted to local conditions. However, many opportunities still exist within the informal seed market to disseminate improved varieties that have raised productivity, nutrition, and disease tolerance. Quantity of seed sown (in comparison to previous season) The survey set out to inquire as to reasons behind increasing or decreasing the amount of seed sown by farmers relative to previous seasons. The results showed:

o Same as previous season 43% o More than previous season 32% o Less than previous season 25%

Under the “quantity seed sown” result, the reasons for sowing less than in previous seasons could were listed as the lack of agrodealers nearby; also, the effect of the cyclone in reducing seed stocks. The respondents may also have sowed less because they “distrusted the quality” of seeds through any of the acquisition mechanisms or seed sources. It could also be related to labor shortages, declining soil fertility, drought. Some of these other reasons are summarized below.

Reasons for sowing less than or equal to past seasons: o Cost related: Not enough money 14.5%, high cost of inputs 0.3% o Distrusting quality: total = 5.6%

8 Mostly temperate cultivars imported from South Africa, and poorly adapted to local conditions

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o Risk factors seem to be generally not important factors in seed amount purchased: drought 0.3%, insecurity 0.3%, pests and diseases 5.3%, o Lack of availability of seed (possibly due to weak agrodealer network) 25% o Market constraints seems to be a negligible factor on amount of seed purchased: 0.7% o Factors of Production have a higher level in influencing amount of seed purchased: lack of labor 15.5%; land shortage 16.8%; lack of implements 2.6%

Free distribution of seed (post Cyclone Idai) – 16% of overall respondents obtained free seed The free distribution of seed, which reached 16% of respondents, has undermined a market response to seasonal seed shortages and stunted the development of networks between seed companies in cities and agrodealers in rural areas. The survey showed how common free seed, overwhelming routine purchases (6%).

o Mostly sourced from NGOs 63% and govt share was 35% o Highest levels of free seed distribution occurred in Sofala 34% and 15% and Sussundenga in Manica at 24% - interesting thing in these districts RAMA BC struggled to sell composite seed (maize/legume) kits, as the market was flooded by free distributions. Conclusions:  Focus on the informal market, which is 95% of the seed market as a whole, working from ‘both ends’ not just the formal sector.  In the interests of adaptation to climate change and declining soil fertility, widen the scope of seeds to include traditional crops and tubers.  Increase collaboration between the research and extension services to improve diffusion and flows of improved varieties.

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