Oxes soon in Manica

In 2004, Van Os-Sonnevelt joined a funding program for an aid project in Chitima, central Mozambique. Belgian non-governmental organizations and local farmer organizations joined forces in an effort to give the local population durable aid. The goal of the collaboration was to provide local farmers with the means and tools to become self supporting. In Mozambique, being self supporting means: having a piece of farmland, water, some sowing seed, some simple farming tools and an ox to pull them.
From 2005 onwards, the Chitima project gradually evolved to autonomy. The local organization TLC set up a system of micro-credits, thus allowing farmers to buy their first traction ox and the necessary sowing seeds. In the local dispatching centre, they get familiar with the most effective farming techniques for that particular area. AIDS prevention and information on the country’s land ownership laws also make part of the program.
Now that the Chitima project is fully independent from foreign funds, Van Os-Sonnevelt is redirecting its efforts and funding to a new, similar project run by Uniao Provincial de Camponese de Manica, a farmers organization operating in the southern province to help farmers make a living.


Read more about FOS and its African development projects here.