Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in the world, with over 70% of the population living on less that $1 a day and poverty rates as high as 90% in rural areas. The majority of the rural population survives on subsistence farming and land is a crucial asset for people's survival; it also has very strong social and cultural connotations around which communities construct their local identity and social structure.

However, individual small farmers lack commercial and political influence and power, and inevitably they lack credit, storage facilities, transport and marketing opportunities. All of these factors reduce their capacity to produce, store and sell their production and so to benefit themselves, their communities and the country at large.

Smallholder farmers depend on traditional farming methods, low-yield seed varieties and manual cultivation techniques. Alternative sources of income outside agriculture are often few, and this increases the vulnerability of the rural poor people.

On July 2013 the Food We Want team went to Mozambique to organize three workshops with small farmers from 6 districts from the north area of the country.

The workshops intended to be an opportunity to share ideas and identify common solutions to empower small farmers and make them capable to face the current economic, social and environmental challenges.

The workshop participants agreed that:

• Public investment in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and support services is needed to unleash the inherent power of small farmers.

• Investing in adapting to climate change is a priority. Perhaps these are the most urgent measures to be taken to help communities to adapt to climate change, reducing vulnerability and increasing infrastructure that protect against climatic phenomena. Government should develop national adaptation plans that give priority to the needs of vulnerable people. These efforts must be supported also by the international community.

• Farmers’ capacity building is very much needed. Forestry and intercropping can help to improve the quality of the soil and to diversify incomes. Integration techniques reduce the need for expensive chemical pesticides. Water harvesting techniques reduce the need for irrigation systems and help manage the unpredictability of the rains. Techniques soil conservation retains nutrients and productivity. These knowledge and practices need to be spread and used widely.

• Reinforce social protection programs and develop integrated strategies to fight hunger at local and national levels is mandatory.

If we are to meet the challenges described above we must sustain sustainable small scale production models:the real opportunity to grasp is to increase yields of small-scale farmers.

Since the vulnerability, poverty and hunger are concentrated in rural areas, to invest in small-scale agriculture means to increase the capacity to cope with these challenges, improve incomes and the ability to produce food in those areas most affected by hunger. Moreover, history shows that investing in agriculture has triggered the growth and development of many emerging economies.