Questions and answers about Agriservi Mozambique.
Who is the founder of Agriservi: Abraham van Tonder - I realized the need of a platform for poor people and donors to communicate directly with each other. Because poor people haven’t got the visibility, Agriservi is determined to get their information and show it to the world. People who feel to help them , but do not want to just put their money into a big system where they have got no further control or cannot give any further inputs , can communicate directly with their beneficiary and help their specific beneficiary in a way that suits them both . It offers a chance for somebody to own their own little piece of Africa, through the farmer that they assist.
Who does the Agriservi website belongs to? The website belongs to Abraham van |Tonder. The intention is that the website, with its operating system, must be able to function independently. The website is hosted by ACS computers in Nelspruit, South-Africa. Giel Ackerman is the webmaster.
What does the name Agriservi mean? Agriservi is short for Agricultural services. It is the name of the Mozambican registered Company, Agriservi.
What does Agriservi do? Agriservi is only a social media network system to give a platform where poor people and donors can communicate directly with each other.
People can use the network to find a beneficiary of their choice and then use the system to contribute money directly to that beneficiary.
Agriservi also gives a platform for work-groups to register on the system. These work groups will wait to be chosen by a donor to go and do a certain job for the beneficiary. The work group will then be contracted by the donor and will be paid for their services. AgriWorks is the first work group that has been registered on the system and is also managed by Abraham van Tonder. From May 2017 to date all Agriservi work has been done by AgriWorks and the funding for these work has came from Abraham van Tonder himself. This was done to facilitate the start-up of the Agriservi system. An amount of R10500 was also donated by friends.
The Agriservi system will take a percentage of all payments to cover the costs of registering new beneficiaries and to be the link between the Donor and the beneficiary.
Does Agriservi own land in Mozambique? No, but I, myself, is in the process to acquire 200 hectare of land and Luciano, who work with me, 100 hectare. This land will be the base from which AgriWorks will operate and where we will work when we are not busy with any project. We also started our own project on this land from 02 May 2018. We try to copy the life of a poor person who wants to go and start farming without anything. It is hard but we already have learnt a lot more about the lives of poor people by trying to live in the same way.
Is Government involved in Agriservi? Agriservi has no Government involvement, because the system must run independently. Agriservi is registered according to all official regulations of the Mozambican Law. When Agriservi works in a certain area to obtain the information of farmers, we do communicate with Government and would work with them where it is applicable.
Do you work with other organizations or churches? Agriservi is independent from any other institution and only function as a platform where other organizations, churches or individuals can communicate with each other. A church , for example , can register as a donor on the system , but it can even register as a work group , should they which to come and work for a specific beneficiary and get funds from other donors to pay for the job or to provide the input costs.
Who do you think will be the future donors? Agriservi hope to attract those individuals who want to become directly involved in the life of a poor person. People who want to see the chance that their hard earned money brings in someone specific`s life. You do find people who do not want to pour their money into a big system where they do not have any control or possible further inputs. In the same way you would find churches and other organizations that also prefer to work directly with a single beneficiary or a group of beneficiaries who farm near each other.
How can people who are not donors or beneficiaries or work groups, get involved in the Agriservi system? Individuals or organizations that operate amongst poor farmers and want to use the Agriservi system to promote their own beneficiaries with their own identified projects, are welcome to do so. The system is there for all to use.
How do you see the future of the AgriWorks work-group? We believe that AgriWorks will be one of the groups of choice. We already work amongst the people for many years. We know the needs of our people and we understand their lives and desires. Our experience helps us to determine real needs above the needs of people who do not deserve help so much. Agriworks is looking for positive outcomes and to make lifelong changes in people `s lives and does not necessary help all people. We believe that some people, without the necessary ability to become farmers, rather need to stand in a queue for hand- outs, because money will be wasted when you try to transform them. Our highest priority is to help subsistence farmers to become semi-commercial farmers.
Why is it necessary to help farmers in Mozambique? In countries, like Mozambique, you find that only 20 to 30 % of people have got a formal work. This people are the ones that earn an income and buy food and other agricultural items. The rest of the people do not buy any food, but try to provide for themselves by means of subsistence farming. When 80 % of a population is not part of the “buying power”, there is no market for agricultural products. This only changes when more industries and formal employers are present.
In the meantime, to uplift poor farmers, and without excising markets, semi-commercial farming is the only improvement that we can aim for. In semi-commercial farming the chain just become a little longer. For example: A subsistence farmer has always planted some crops to have food for his family. When the crop is good he cannot sell anything, because there is no market. When the crop is bad, he has got no food and needs the World Food Organization to help them stay alive. A semi-commercial farmer expands his possibilities. He plant more crops and use the excess for new departments in his own farming enterprise. He can save some maize in a storage facility to eat the next year if it does not rain, but he can save some maize in the form of food to pigs or cattle that can protect him against hunger for another year or two. A subsistence farmer might only have some maize and beans to sell if he has got extra. The semi-commercial farmer will have a choice to sell his extra maize or a cow or a pig or some chickens for which the chances are much better then to find a market for at least one of his products. He has got a circle of marketing first to himself and then to identify a possible outside market for some of his products.
To go from subsistence farming to semi-commercial farming is not possible without help from outside. Once we have got more semi-commercial farmers, there will even be job opportunities for other poor people and the circle of poverty will become less intense.