Over the years the Aga Khan Foundation has worked with several partners to grow the capacity of the Bilibiza Agricultural Institute, which boosts the ability of the Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique to improve food security and enterprise.

Hub for Innovation in Northern Mozambique

The Ford Foundation has supported Bilibiza since 2009, with over $1 million in grants providing training, technical assistance and scholarship funds to transform the Bilibiza Agricultural Institute into an educational institution of excellence. Activities have included improving school facilities and creating a more advanced curriculum that is relevant to priority issues in the region. To increase the school’s self-sustainability, the grant supported a goat breeding program, an aviary and additional farms. Professors and students conduct field trials of new agricultural techniques, including planting of disease-resistant varieties indigenous to Mozambique, crop diversification, inter-cropping and composting. The program has improved prospects of local cashew production through treatment of diseased cashew trees and high-quality grafting, involving hundreds of farmers.

Information Technology Helps Transfer Effective Farming Skills

Most recently, Ford Foundation has funded a pilot program to enhance agricultural extension using information and communication technologies, which can provide powerful tools for disseminating improved agricultural techniques such as Conservation Agriculture. These technologies are particularly effective for people with low levels of literacy or access to extension services. In partnership with Ford, the Aga Khan Foundation, Mozambique is producing 60 videos that document improved practices such as mulching, intercropping and the use of cover crops. These videos will be used to train Bilibiza faculty and students who will put these skills into practice, sharing the model with the surrounding communities. This project brings improved technology and strengthens computer literacy at Bilibiza.

AKF Mozambique is partnering and sharing their best practices with international organizations, NGOs, the Provincial Department of Agriculture, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education and Culture, among others, to ensure that improvements produce lasting results.

Growing the Institute’s Capacity

In addition, Cargill Inc. has provided a $1.35 million grant, for the period from June 2012 through May 2015, to further grow the institute. That support includes increasing the number of teaching staff; provide critical training on entrepreneurial and technical areas of agriculture including livestock and processing; improve the institute’s infrastructure and equipment; and help the school establish a commercially operated farm. Infrastructure improvements range from increased access to computers and the internet, to better water management systems and new solar-powered irrigation.

Together with its partners in these improvements, Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. aims to help the institute become an integrated hub for innovation and enterprise in northern Mozambique.

Bilibiza Agricultural Institute around the Web

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