Development of An Improved Farm Management Model for African Smallholders

The Case of the Nacala Corridor in Northern Mozambique

Abstract

In this study, we develop a farm management model that incorporates the livelihood structures of African smallholders and their farming conditions. The model is based upon a comprehensive linear programming approach using smallholders’ farm and non-farm data collected in different agroecological zones of the Nacala Corridor, Northern Mozambique. With the model, we examine optimal crop combinations in each zone that maximize the total income among smallholders depending on their available resources and farm risks. The results suggest that upland crop diversification is effective in increasing the income in zones with relatively high production and market risks. The result also attaches importance to increasing the production of the most lucrative beans and tubers cultivated in each zone for livelihood improvement, as well as increasing the major food staples produced in order to achieve food self-sufficiency, especially among those with more than 1 hectare of farmland. Those with less than 1 hectare of farmland would also derive improved livelihood from expanding the cultivatable area, which is feasible considering actual land and labor availability. Given the current level of productivity, however, the next generation would face food shortages and farm economic decline as farmland area is reduced as a consequence of land division after inheritance. Further efforts should thus be geared toward evaluating productivity-enhancing cropping systems and technologies that reflect the relevant data into such a model as established in this study.