At 35, Filomena knew that depending on others for help couldn’t be a viable life plan. Months later, she decided to move to the community of Namiture, in the Metuge district. Unemployed, she found in agriculture the only opportunity to rebuild her family’s life.
A neighbor lent her a hectare and a half of land. There she returned to doing what she had learned as a child: cultivating corn. The harvest was enough to feed the family, but not enough to change their reality.
They continued to produce as they always had. They sowed without alignment, without respecting the spacing between the plants, faced losses caused by pests, and depended on expensive chemicals to protect the crop. Corn was practically their only source of food and income, making the family vulnerable to any adversity.
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More than just a producer, the project saw in her a woman with the potential to rebuild her own life. At the “Machamba do Camponês School,” Filomena learned regenerative agriculture techniques she had never imagined using. She discovered the importance of row planting, the correct use of spacing, intercropping, the production of organic fertilizer and natural biopesticides, drastically reducing costs and protecting soil fertility.
But AgroVida didn’t just transform her farm. It transformed the way Filomena looked at herself. In economic empowerment training, she learned that producing was only one part of the business.
It was necessary to plan, calculate costs, record income and expenses, identify markets, and invest intelligently. It was during one of these training sessions that she realized the business she was looking for wasn’t far from home. Initially, she thought about traveling to Nampula to buy capulanas (traditional Mozambican fabrics) or crossing the border into Tanzania in search of cosmetics for resale.
They seemed like good ideas. However, while developing her first business plan with the support of the project’s technicians, she concluded that she could create a much more profitable activity using the resources available in her own community. That’s how he decided to invest in broiler chicken farming.
He started with an investment of around 30,000 meticais and two batches of 200 chicks. Today, he produces four batches per cycle and regularly supplies families in the community, the Naminawe Health Center, and local restaurants, with whom he maintains a weekly supply contract. The income allowed them to improve the family’s diet, reinvest in agricultural production, purchase a solar panel, and, above all, ensure the continuity of their three children’s education, who attend different levels of schooling in the city of Pemba.
In just one agricultural season, corn production increased from 300 to 400 kilograms. Sesame production doubled, reaching 400 kilograms. For the first time, Filomena diversified production with cowpeas and pigeon peas, selling part of the harvest and reserving another part to reinforce the family’s food security.
Today, when she looks back, Filomena realizes that the biggest change isn’t just in the production numbers or sales of her business. It’s in the trust she has earned. He no longer relies solely on inherited experience.
He makes decisions based on knowledge. He keeps financial records, develops business plans, employs a worker to support chicken farming, and prepares to acquire his own plot of land. “I left home knowing almost nothing.
Today I know how to produce fertilizer, biopesticides, sow seeds in rows, develop a business plan, and control income and expenses. I’ve even managed to hire a worker. Now I believe I can grow even more.”
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