What Oxfam is Doing
- Building Food Security
- Securing Women's Rights
- Developing Agriculture
DEVELOPING AGRICULTURE
Oxfam America supports emergency food and flood relief efforts, rural agricultural support and credit programs, and women's rights reforms in Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. The program in Zimbabwe also includes a peace-building initiative to end local conflicts there.
Mozambique contains one of the largest areas of fertile land in southern Africa. With nearly 60 million uncultivated acres, it is a hotspot for enterprising investors.
Despite this potential, the central provinces of Mozambique are some of the poorest regions in the world—more than 70 percent of the population lives in poverty. Floods, disease, and a costly recovery from a long civil war keep farming families trapped in poverty, with few opportunities for economic growth.
A group of local organizations saw an opportunity to help the people of the Manica Province by connecting farmers with the capital, training, and technical expertise they need to break out of poverty.
With Oxfam's support, the Manica Initiative has introduced an innovative model of community development, capitalizing on the highly evolved maize market in the area. The project is encouraging the growth of the local economy by uniting rural farmers with private investors into business partnerships.