Published: January 22, 2024

Within the Community of Practice (CoP) “Agroforestry Systems in Mozambique” a training about Agroforestry Systems took place between the 26 and 28 of October 2023. The training was hold in the forest concession of a horizont3000 partner organization called LevasFlor, which is implementing since 2022 Agroforestry Projects within their communities.  

Who organized the event and who participated?  

Lais Nara and Mareen Zeitelhofer (Technical Advisors of HORIZONT3000) organized the training in cooperation with Elisangela Rassul (Kosmoz). Helena Maltez (Multirão Agroflorestal) was the trainer, who has more than 30 years of experience in implementing Agroforestry Projects in Brazil.  

In total participated 30 CoP members from 13 different partner organizations in the course. The activity was sponsored by an Austrian partner organisation of horizont3000, called Missio, and the knowledge management program of horizont3000, called KNOW-HOW3000, which is funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA).

What happened in these three days? 

On the first day, the participants had the chance to get to know each other and to share their expectations of the training. Furthermore, Helena gave a broad introduction about Agroforestry Systems, including its basic definitions and concepts. At the end of the day the selected demonstration plot was visited and analysed by the group.  

On the second day in the morning, the participants went to the field again to prepare the demonstration plot for planting and seeding. After that, Helena gave an extensive lesson about what to consider and how to design an Agroforestry plot. At the end of the day, the participants had to design a detailed Agroforestry field by themselves, which they presented afterwards to the group.  

On the last day, early in the morning an Agroforestry field was created on the demonstration plot under the step-by-step guidance of Helena. Later on, Helena gave a lecture about how to manage an Agroforestry plot successfully with the focus on producing and applying Bio-fertilizers. To wrap-up the day, a guest speaker from Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Estevão Chambule, gave a presentation about “Increasing the productivity and sustainability of agriculture production by implementing Agroforestry Systems in Mozambique”.  

What was the outcome of the training?  

The three days were characterized by gaining knowledge about different areas of Agroforestry systems: Introduction, Design, Implementation and Maintenance. The sessions were accompanied by lively discussions and experience sharing between the CoP members and the Agroforestry experts. The practical exercises led to several lessons learnt, which the members took home and will implement in their own Agroforestry projects. Last, but not least, strong synergies between the CoP members were created, which lays the base for future collaborations and activities of the CoP.  

Comments from participants: 

Luisa Binda, Agroforestry Project Officer at Young Africa: 

“I liked the training very much and moreover, the diversified way the content was approached. I appreciated the practical part where I was able to gain new knowledge and experiences about implementing Agroforestry Systems. With this acquired knowledge I was able to improve my work, especially in the practical classes with the students, and therefore I want to thank HORIZONT3000.” 

Joaquim Moiana, Manager of Agroforestry Project at Esmabama:

“The training on agroforestry systems was a valuable experience, providing crucial knowledge for implementing projects in this area. The well-planned training and meaningful learning certainly left me prepared to use these tools in our organisation on a solid footing. Keeping up to date is key, especially in a field as dynamic as agroforestry systems. New methods, technologies and discoveries are always emerging. Fortunately, I was part of this group that learnt a lot from the training.”

Rosa Americo (right side), Leader of Community Department at LevasFlor:  

“I am very glad that I got the opportunity to participate in the Agroforestry training, because I was able to gain a lot of new knowledge within that area: How to conserve forests, how to plant an Agroforestry system and why uncontrolled fires and deforestation are harmful for the environment. When I am visiting our communities now, and I see uncontrolled fires, I can explain them, why this is harmful for nature and for their future.”