According to the World Food Program, one third of Mozambique’s population is chronically food-insecure, and half a million of the country’s children aged 6-23 months are undernourished.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization reports the principal form of livestock in Mozambique is cattle, which are raised traditionally on natural pastures. However, in contrast, Mozambique has one of the lowest cattle populations in Africa and not nearly enough cows to supply the country’s needs.

With support from Food Resources Bank, World Hope International’s Cattle Cluster Program aims to increase cattle production, helping farming families in Mozambique become more food secure. Most importantly, the Cattle Cluster Program offers poor farmers a hand up, not a hand out since each recipient repays what he or she received while encouraging Mozambicans to also help their neighbors.

WHI provides heifers to family groups which can be used for plowing, milk, food security, or income. In return, the new cow owner must agree to give two of the heifer’s offspring to a neighbor or family member. Through this process, cattle multiplication continues and program staff holds groups accountable to meet their obligations of giving offspring to help others. Agreements are made on paper and before witnesses in the community so that recipients feel a strong sense of obligation. To-date, ninety percent of family groups who received a cow have passed on offspring to a waiting family.

Once a group passes on offspring to form another cluster, families may choose to sell its cows or keep them for further multiplication. With this flexibility, many families now have plows and bulls that enable them to expand their farm size and to plow for hire. In addition, famers highly value the security of having some savings in the form of livestock and only sell a cow in times of exceptional need.

In 2016, 10 new cattle clusters were launched, including 104 new cows and 19 new bulls.

Since the project began in 2003, more than 2500 cows have been distributed to poor families desiring to herd cattle.

The increase in cattle production comes with an increased need for veterinary care. Veterinary care can help to improve livestock production and contaminate the spread of disease.

To address this, WHI helps to facilitate five-day training courses for new cow owners. The courses are taught by government veterinarians and include three days of classroom learning followed by two days of hands on training. The participants are also trained in prevention and treatment of common diseases for sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle.

The Village Vets become a valuable resource in their community and are increasingly utilized by government veterinarians to coordinate vaccination campaigns, which play an important role in keeping all cattle and animals in the area healthy.

In 2016, village vets vaccinated 339 young calves within the clusters. Finally, to date, 168 Village Vets have been trained.