Do agricultural innovation platforms and soil moisture and nutrient monitoring tools improve the production and livelihood of smallholder irrigators in Mozambique?
Mário Chilundo, Wilson de Sousa, Evan Christen, Joaquim Faduco, Henning Bjørnlund, Etevaldo Cheveia, P. Munguambe, Fernando Caldeira Jorge, Richard Stirzaker, André van Rooyen
Abstract
Over four years, a research-for-development project was implemented at the 25 de Setembro irrigation scheme in Mozambique. The project introduced agricultural innovation platforms to overcome barriers to production such as input and output supply chains and poorly maintained irrigation canals. Soil moisture and nutrient monitoring tools were provided so that farmers could improve their irrigation and fertilizer management. The farmers increased their crop production through the use of the tools and better irrigation infrastructure, and increased their income and overall well-being through better links to markets and new information sources facilitated by the agricultural innovation platforms