Reprint of an article that begins with a summary of the history of Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique and the struggle for independence by the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO). The Portuguese left the country in utter poverty: there were only 80 doctors for 14 million people, 40 percent of children died before the age of five, and the majority of Mozambicans were illiterate. When most white settlers fled, they destroyed whatever they couldn't take with them. One of the FRELIMO government's main goals was stimulating agricultural production and repairing farms damaged by Portuguese farmers. Of necessity, the government took over most of the abandoned farms. FRELIMO...
Reprint of an article that begins with a summary of the history of Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique and the struggle for independence by the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO). The Portuguese left the country in utter poverty: there were only 80 doctors for 14 million people, 40 percent of children died before the age of five, and the majority of Mozambicans were illiterate. When most white settlers fled, they destroyed whatever they couldn't take with them. One of the FRELIMO government's main goals was stimulating agricultural production and repairing farms damaged by Portuguese farmers. Of necessity, the government took over most of the abandoned farms. FRELIMO also encouraged the creation of "machambas do povo" (peoples' farms), cooperatives in which people collectively worked the land and sold their produce to the state. In 1982 the Green Zone cooperatives united into the General Union of Cooperatives, an independent, nongovernmental federation - an umbrella group for all the co-ops. By 1987 it united 210 co-ops, with 11,500 members (95 percent of whom were women) who produced over 2,600 tons of food a year. The land is expensive to irrigate, and many co-ops lack money to dig deep wells, so they must depend largely on uncertain rains. During the 1980s, there have been several years of drought and one year of severe flooding. The biggest obstacle is the war being waged by the South Africa-sponsored Mozambique National Resistance (MNR). In some of the best agricultural areas of the country, crops are not being producing because guerrilla attacks have made normal life impossible. The government is strapped for funds, so co-ops need foreign technical assistance and aid for projects like digging wells and installing irrigation systems. Co-ops get assistance from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, UNICEF, and Scandinavian governments. If Washington would use its leverage on South Africa to end the war, the example set by the women of the Green Zones could be replicated throughout Mozambique. The National Council of Negro Women/ International Division is partnering with the General Union to build a management training center that will provide courses to people in co-ops in the Maputo, Gaza and Inhambane Provinces. The article mentions Celina Cossa, Rosa Macamo, the Josiah Tongogara Cooperative, U.S. AID, tractors, literacy programs, and daycare centers. [Note: This article, published by the Institute for Food and Development Policy (also known as Food First), was distributed by the Mozambique Support Network.]
