Notes from the Field: Mozambique

Senior Technical Advisor for Financial Services and Business Development at ACDI/VOCA in Mozambique, Olaf Kula, highlights development in Mozambique's rural microfinance sector in his note to USAID's Microenterprise Development Team.The author observed the following about the resurgent agricultural sector:

• Increased investment by Zimbabwean commercial farmers and the facilitation of linkages between small scale producers and the commercial markets in rural Mozambique has enabled the growth of income-generating activities;
• Local government support has allowed small scale farmers to legally get around regulatory hurdles including tax policy;
• Greater stability and the reduced cost of local infrastructure has made communication in general, as well as its accessibility, easier;
• Increasing employment due to larger organizations subcontracting to micro-enterprises has allowed small companies more business without having to rush to scale up;
• The service industry in the region is growing and thus creating more economic activity in the area. Furthermore, local farmers can buy parts on line, look up information on schools for their children, and, in general, become more connected to the formal sector.