[01:12.23]I'm going to report on a case study of a programme which has been set up to help rural populations in Mozambique, a largely agricultural country in South-East Africa.
[01:26.39]The programme worked with three communities in Chicualacuala district, near the Limpopo River.
[01:34.75]This is a dry and arid region, with unpredictable rainfall.
[01:41.37]Because of this, people in the area were unable to support themselves through agriculture and instead they used the forest as a means of providing themselves with an income, mainly by selling charcoal.
[01:58.99]However, this was not a sustainable way of living in the long term, as they were rapidly using up this resource.
[02:10.51]To support agriculture in this dry region, the programme focused primarily on making use of existing water resources from the Limpopo River by setting up systems of irrigation, which would provide a dependable water supply for crops and animals.
[02:33.39]The programme worked closely with the district government in order to find the best way of implementing this.
[02:43.02]The region already had one farmers' association, and it was decided to set up two more of these.
[02:53.15]These associations planned and carried out activities including water management, livestock breeding and agriculture, and it was notable that in general, women formed the majority of the workforce.
[03:11.73]It was decided that in order to keep the crops safe from animals, both wild and domestic, special areas should be fenced off where the crops could be grown.
[03:26.92]The community was responsible for creating these fences, but the programme provided the necessary wire for making them.
[03:38.33]Once the area had been fenced off, it could be cultivated.
[03:44.46]The land was dug, so that vegetables and cereals appropriate to the climate could be grown, and the programme provided the necessary seeds for this.
[03:57.98]The programme also provided pumps so that water could be brought from the river in pipes to the fields.
[04:08.31]However, the labour was all provided by local people, and they also provided and put up the posts that supported the fences around the fields.
[04:25.37]Once the programme had been set up, its development was monitored carefully.
[04:33.53]The farmers were able to grow enough produce not just for their own needs, but also to sell.
[04:42.31]However, getting the produce to places where it could be marketed was sometimes a problem, as the farmers did not have access to transport, and this resulted in large amounts of produce, especially vegetables, being spoiled.
[05:03.82]This problem was discussed with the farmers' associations and it was decided that in order to prevent food from being spoiled, the farmers needed to learn techniques for its preservation.
[05:20.67]There was also an additional initiative that had not been originally planned, but which became a central feature of the programme.
[05:32.16]This was when farmers started to dig holes for tanks in the fenced-off areas and to fill these with water and use them for breeding fish - an important source of protein.
[05:49.05]After a time, another suggestion was made by local people which hadn't been part of the programme's original proposal, but which was also adopted later on.
[06:03.47]They decided to try setting up colonies of bees, which would provide honey both for their own consumption and to sell.
[06:16.48]So what lessons can be learned from this programme?
[06:22.07]First of all, it tells us that in dry, arid regions, if there is access to a reliable source of water, there is great potential for the development of agriculture.
[06:37.77]In Chicualacuala, there was a marked improvement in agricultural production, which improved food security and benefited local people by providing them with both food and income.
[06:54.33]However, it's important to set realistic timelines for each phase of the programme, especially for its design, as mistakes made at this stage may be hard to correct later on.
[07:12.55]The programme demonstrates that sustainable development is possible in areas where…
