Felix José João, a 58 year old father of 7 began farming in Gorongosa, Mozambique after the loss of his brother. He operates a 3 hectare farm where he grows vegetables, carrots and watermelons. Felix’s physical impairment has not stood in the way of his success, and he acts as a model farmer in the community. He has used innovation to overcome setbacks and has even designed a water canal system to irrigate his gardens all year round. His ingenuity and resilience demonstrate the abilities of people with disabilities and prove the potential of their success if included fully in agriculture value chains.
Despite Felix’s success, there are still barriers to the full inclusion of people with disabilities in his community. One key barrier highlighted is the lack of access to extension services, including financial services for people with disabilities. Felix would like to gain finance and improve his financial literacy so that he can expand his farm.
Providing people like Felix with more formal training opportunities in agriculture and finance, paired with the raising awareness of financial institutions and training centers would go a long way towards the inclusion of people with disabilities in rural economies.
Another barrier facing people with disabilities in Felix’s community is a lack of physical access to markets where they can sell their crops. As a result of this, farmers with disabilities, especially physical impairments, use middlemen to sell their products. This means that farmers like Felix end up selling at a lower wholesale price, resulting in lower profits. Additionally, Felix does not own a cell phone or have access to the internet, leaving it difficult for him to find out about market trends, and ensure that he is getting a fair price for his crops. Increasing the accessibility of markets, and supporting farmers with disabilities to get the vital information that they need about pricing their products would work towards eliminating this barrier.
The development of assistive farming devices to enable farmers with disabilities to perform their duties with less difficulty has the potential to further empower farmers like Felix to achieve their goals. This case study suggests that the Agrilab approach planned under the SPARK program has the potential for great success in this area.
Another barrier facing people with disabilities in Felix’s community is a lack of physical access to markets where they can sell their crops. As a result of this, farmers with disabilities, especially physical impairments, use middlemen to sell their products. This means that farmers like Felix end up selling at a lower wholesale price, resulting in lower profits. Additionally, Felix does not own a cell phone or have access to the internet, leaving it difficult for him to find out about market trends, and ensure that he is getting a fair price for his crops. Increasing the accessibility of markets, and supporting farmers with disabilities to get the vital information that they need about pricing their products would work towards eliminating this barrier.
The development of assistive farming devices to enable farmers with disabilities to perform their duties with less difficulty has the potential to further empower farmers like Felix to achieve their goals. This case study suggests that the agrilab approach planned under the SPARK programme has the potential for great success in this area.
To ensure effective implementation of disability inclusion programming, It is necessary to ensure that a coalition of partners is formed to have a common vision and strategy towards supporting people with disabilities in pursuing agriculture. The barriers faced by people with disabilities can be many, but through mutual understanding of their challenges and opportunities, it is possible to remove these barriers and increase participation in this sector.
