| I'm going to report on a case study of a programme |
| which has been set up to help rural populations in Mozambique, |
| a largely agricultural country in South-East Africa. |
| The programme worked with three communities in Chicualacuala district, |
| near the Limpopo River. |
| This is a dry and arid region, with unpredictable rainfall. |
| Because of this, people in the area were unable to support themselves through agriculture |
| and instead they used the forest as a means of providing themselves with an income, |
| mainly by selling charcoal. |
| However, this was not a sustainable way of living in the long term, |
| as they were rapidly using up this resource. |
| To support agriculture in this dry region, |
| the programme focused primarily on making use of existing water resources from the Limpopo River |
| by setting up systems of irrigation, |
| which would provide a dependable water supply for crops and animals. |
| The programme worked closely with the district government in order to find the best way of implementing this. |
| The region already had one farmers' association, |
| and it was decided to set up two more of these. |
| These associations planned and carried out activities including water management, |
| livestock breeding and agriculture, |
| and it was notable that in general, women formed the majority of the workforce. |
| It was decided that in order to keep the crops safe from animals, both wild and domestic, |
| special areas should be fenced off where the crops could be grown. |
| The community was responsible for creating these fences, |
| but the programme provided the necessary wire for making them. |
| Once the area had been fenced off, it could be cultivated. |
| The land was dug, so that vegetables and cereals appropriate to the climate could be grown, |
| and the programme provided the necessary seeds for this. |
| The programme also provided pumps so that water could be brought from the river in pipes to the fields. |
| However, the labour was all provided by local people, |
| and they also provided and put up the posts that supported the fences around the fields. |
| Once the programme had been set up, |
| its development was monitored carefully. |
| The farmers were able to grow enough produce |
| not just for their own needs, but also to sell. |
| However, getting the produce to places where it could be marketed was sometimes a problem, |
| as the farmers did not have access to transport, |
| and this resulted in large amounts of produce, |
| especially vegetables, being spoiled. |
| This problem was discussed with the farmers' associations |
| and it was decided that in order to prevent food from being spoiled, |
| the farmers needed to learn techniques for its preservation. |
| There was also an additional initiative that had not been originally planned, |
| but which became a central feature of the programme. |
| This was when farmers started to dig holes for tanks in the fenced-off areas |
| and to fill these with water and use them for breeding fish - |
| an important source of protein. |
| After a time, another suggestion was made by local people |
| which hadn't been part of the programme's original proposal, |
| but which was also adopted later on. |
| They decided to try setting up colonies of bees, |
| which would provide honey both for their own consumption and to sell. |
| So what lessons can be learned from this programme? |
| First of all, it tells us that in dry, arid regions, |
| if there is access to a reliable source of water, |
| there is great potential for the development of agriculture. |
| In Chicualacuala, there was a marked improvement in agricultural production, |
| which improved food security |
| and benefited local people by providing them with both food and income. |
| However, it's important to set realistic timelines for each phase of the programme, |
| especially for its design, |
| as mistakes made at this stage may be hard to correct later on. |
| The programme demonstrates that sustainable development is possible in areas where... |