Shared Value – Creating Value through sharing value
The moringa tree project is a commercial, profit orientated, activity based upon the principles of shared value. The local population will be an integrated part of the project and will benefit through health improvement, employment, capacity building, education and economical growth.
Shared Value
The clear objective of the project is to act in close cooperation with the local community. Strong local ownership including inclusion of outgrowers is considered as key of the success. The conditions and degree of local involvement and local cooperation will have an impact on the major indicators of social performance; outreach to the poor, education, employment creation and improvement of the purchasing power of the local population are main objectives.
Cooperation and mutual coherence with the local community are returning topics. People have lived there for decades, which should be respected. There is no intention at all to forcibly evict locals from their own land. MoSagri aims for a situation where the company acts like an older brother; setting the example for the environment, and providing training and advice. The population will not only be able to understand the business, but will also be able to produce crops on their land, ideally the same as the company does, for their own use as well as for trade. A model is put in place whereby outgrowers are intercropping leguminosas in between the moringa trees on the MoSagri plantation. So the transformation from subsistence farming into commercial farming is one of the objectives of MoSagri. The company will buy the harvested products at a fair market price. This production from the local out growers, combined with the corporate activities, will lead to a larger, more efficient, scale, creating a win-win situation
The start of commercial cultivation of Moringa is an important trigger for the rural development in Mozambique. It creates a large number of jobs and it provides great opportunities for the outgrowers to develop climate smart agriculture in rural areas.
“Every household it’s own moringa tree”
Foodsecurity, Health and Economical prosperity:
The Mozambican government is anxiously looking to improve the local awareness of the different aspects of food and health. The slogan “ Every household it’s own moringa tree” perfectly fits into that ambition. MoSagri will strongly promote and support the awareness about all the positive aspects of the production and the consumption of the highly nutritional moringa products.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
MoSagri Lda is taking it’s corporate social responsibility via :
- Capacity building
The moringa plantation is being set up in very close cooperation with the local communities. MoSagri Lda is providing knowledge, technology and training to the local outgrowers and workers.
- Creating awareness - food and health
Initiatives are being taken to make moringa products available at schools and hospitals.
Moringa products are also being promoted to be used as an ingredient for foodfortification.
- Working on Millenium Development Goals (MDG)
The moringa plant has become very relevant considering what it can contribute in achieving a number of the MDGs. For this reason many people refer to it as a “Millennium plant”.
The paradox of this plant is that it has it’s natural habitat in those parts of the world identified as poor, underdeveloped and suffering from malnutrition. The moringa plant can contribute to achieve the following MDG’s in Mozambique:
GOAL 1 Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
GOAL 5 Improve Maternal Health
GOAL 6 Combat HIV-AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases – improve the immunesystem
GOAL 7 Ensure Environmental Sustainability
GOAL 8 Develop a Global Partnership for Development
MoSagri and the local community
MoSagri Lda is taking it’s social responsibility very serious and has taken various steps to ensure local embedding of the project. During numerous field visits, MoSagri is giving classes to the local outgrowers of moringa seeds on how to meet the criteria for organic certification. Less than 2 years ago, moringa seeds had no economical value. Today, MoSagri is offering the local population a steady and predictable income via the purchase of the seeds that they collect. A clear stimulus to intensify the production of moringa.