Mozambique—Promoting Sustainable Agricultural Market System (PROMAS)

The Promoting Sustainable Agricultural Market System (PROMAS) project is creating a more competitive, inclusive, climate-resilient market in northern Mozambique. The team applies a market systems approach to increase the income and employment opportunities of male and female smallholder farmers, youth, and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Partnering with Swiss development organization Helvetas, DAI is working to: enhance the productivity of smallholder farmers with a special focus on women and young people; improve agriculture input and output markets for smallholder farmers and MSMEs in peri-urban and rural areas; increase the availability of adequate risk management and related instruments for smallholder farmers to absorb climate change shocks; and develop policies and regulations conducive to inclusive agricultural value chain development.

In line with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) principles of long-term engagement, the project runs for almost 12 years. Upon successful delivery of this one-year inception phase, DAI will manage the four-year phase 1. PROMAS draws upon an unrivaled knowledge base gained the DAI-led InovAgro project, SDC’s flagship market systems project—to ensure PROMAS interventions deliver sustainable, high-impact results in northern Mozambique.

Sample Activities

• Carry out a climate risk and adaptation assessment to identify priority risks and identify interventions to help farmers adapt to present and future climate challenges.
• Examine the incentives for input suppliers and agro-dealers to map out and promote crop varieties that are appropriate to the different agroecological zones.
• Examine the extent to which climate adaptation practices such as conservation farming, crop rotation, use of drought-resistant and short-season seed varieties are practiced, and identify means to incentivize market partners to promote them.
• Engage with the National Seed Authority to explore options for sustainability.
• Examine opportunities to promote inter- and intra-sector dialogues (seeds, output markets, finance) to establish platforms with the capacity to lobby and advocate for factors that affect their sectors to provincial and national government.
• Expand financial products for agribusiness MSMEs.