FAO and IIAM are already developing demonstration plots in the District of Tsangano, Province of Tete

19 May 2019, Namaacha (Maputo) – Technical officers from the agricultural sector, students and lecturers from the fields of agronomy, forest and environmental engineering as well as researchers interested in sustainable development, climate change and recovery of degraded areas this weekend attended the second training in syntropic farming, hosted by Eduardo Mondlane University, in collaboration with Kosmoz platform with technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Within the project "Strengthening capacities of agricultural producers to cope with climate change for increased food security through the Farmer Field School approach", financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by FAO, in support of the Government of Mozambique, FAO and Mozambique's Institute of Agricultural Research (IIAM) are already developing demonstration plots in the District of Tsangano, Province of Tete. "With the increase in the number of trained officers", the FAO Project Coordinator Pedro Simpson Jr. says, "the challenge is now to mainstream the adoption of this sustainable practice, since syntropic farming helps turn both agriculture and farmers less vulnerable to the effects of climate change, which in Mozambique is becoming more and more important."

The syntropic farming model aims to establish highly productive areas on once degraded land, by offering ecosystem services such as soil formation, micro climate regulation, and the promotion of the hydrological cycle.

After the first training of this kind, that took place in 2017 as an introduction to syntropic farming and was led by its founder, Ernst Götsch, this second capacity building focused on the sustainable management of natural resources through syntropic farming and permaculture, and was supported by a workshop covering the 4 dimensions of sustainability – social, economic, ecological and cultural – with themes such as strengthening of local economies based on the principles of sustainability and inclusive businesses of impact, amongst others.

Ivete Maluleque, from IIAM Nampula, was one of the participants. The forest engineer also attended the first course in 2017 and, since then, she has followed the trends of syntropic farming on the Internet. "There is always some piece of news", she says. "Syntropic farming is new in Mozambique, so we need to keep improving its practices." This training focused mainly on farm handling for its conservation in order to increase production and productivity and the 47-year old engineer is convinced of the importance of this farming model for Mozambique: "The development of the plants is great: since all products used are natural – no chemical products used – everything favours nature."

Focusing on processes instead of inputs, syntropic farming is one of the models used to promote the natural soil nutrient recycling through carbon sequestration, mitigating the effects of climate change. This farming model is one of the climate change adaptation measures that FAO has been promoting in Mozambique, introducing sustainable agricultural production technologies towards achieving zero hunger by 2030.