A 15-member village food security committee formed in 1998 in rural
Nhambisse, 330 kilometers from the capital of Manica province, received
a $368 grant for an animal traction project to expand areas under cultivation,
transport produce to market, reestablish a livestock population destroyed
during the war years, and increase consumption of animal protein. Animal
traction is a substantial technological advance from the rudimentary
manual agricultural methods prevailing in this area, yet it is relatively
low cost and brings positive environmental sustainability benefits.
Soon, however, conflict arose: a single member ended up with responsibility
for animal care and ploughing, a time-consuming job, while the others
wanted to be the first to benefit from the ploughing. The deadlock led
to a radical proposal to sell the animals and share the proceeds. However,
the committee decided to first try to apply an "appraisal, analysis,
action" approach to problem solving promoted by a USAID-funded
program working in the area. Committee members agreed on a plan that
included: compensating the person responsible for managing the animals
for the time he lost looking after his own fields; giving all members
of the committee equitable access to the services, and allowing non-members
to benefit from the ploughing services by paying the committee for them.
The impasse was solved. Not only was cash generated to pay for animal
upkeep, some non-members paid for services with goats rather than cash
allowing the committee to set up a goat breeding scheme (females are
distributed among members for breeding, and males are eaten) which has
increased community assets and food consumption. Areas under cultivation
expanded three times, increasing productivity and food security throughout
the community. The committee members as well as others in the community
who have observed the process and are benefiting from the services are
now confident in their ability to face new challenges and solve their
own problems. With a very small investment from outside, this community
has developed the instinct to work together and a will to rely on themselves.
And each additional success-such as the goats scheme-motivates them
further.
Participatory Resolution of Dispute Increases Income
