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Horti-Sempre was a market systems development project, designed and financed by the Swiss Development Cooperation SDC to make the horticulture sector in Northern Mozambique more competitive against local and/or foreign imports through better quality products, increased productivity and more seasonal smallholder vegetable production.
At the same time, the project contributed to transforming the agriculture sector towards more sustainability, by building capacities of relevant system actors and developing inclusive, resource-efficient and resilient agricultural systems, which strengthen natural processes and ecosystems.
Horticulture is seen as a competitive alternative to traditional cash crops such as tobacco, cotton, soya, and others and contributes to the diversification of income sources for smallholder farmers. During 2013 to 2016, the project played an important role in the growth of the horticulture production in the region. From 2017 to 2021, the project further developed the horticulture sector by making smallholder horticulture more competitive, increasing its productivity and quality, and improving the management of seasonality to enable a yearlong production.
The project applied a market systems development (MSD) approach. This approach aimed to transform the support and business ecosystem for smallholder farmers by providing access to information, services and resources that will be available beyond the end of the project cycle. The project focused its efforts on strengthening incentive mechanisms for public and private actors in horticultural value chains and making farmer-business models viable, replicable, scalable over time.
Irrigation solutions are one key aspect of the increase in production and productivity in vegetable production. The project concentrated its efforts on implementing group or individual irrigation projects. Irrigation solutions have become increasingly widespread and known among producers.
Improved and accessible inputs and post-harvest techniques are the other key aspect for the increased economic performance and competitiveness of farmers in the horticulture sector. Special attention was given to the promotion and dissemination of adequate agricultural inputs, new or improved seed varieties, access to support services including new packaging formats and marketing techniques. The articulation of the supply and demand side and the development of new customers were encouraged. All these project efforts led to the increase in productivity, product quality and competitiveness of the horticultural sector.
Project activities contributed to achieving eight of the 18 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 1: Ending Poverty, SDG 2: Zero Hunger, SDG 5: Gender Equality, SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 10: Reducing Inequalities, SDG 12: Responsible Production and Consumption, SDG 13: Climate Action, and SDG 17: Partnerships for Achieving the Goals.