Goat Raising Project: Mozambique's Alternative to Beef

Our long term goals for our farm in Mozambique include multiple streams of revenue and multiple animals to use for animal husbandry education. Now, in 2024, we want to begin raising goats!

While fish and chicken are the most popular meat sources in Mozambique, goat is the predominant red meat and is usually cooked into delicious stews with vegetables and served over rice.

We plan to start with one (1) male and four (4) females. As our goats multiply, we will be able to provide the following: another meat source to the community, an additional revenue source to our farm, another animal with which to teach animal husbandry, free natural fertilizer for our soil and crops, and less expensive brush clearing.

Milk consumption is not very common among Mozambique's general population, partly due to lack of refrigeration, but in time, and as we build out more facilities on our farm, we would be interested in using goat milk to make soaps and moisturizers. Lotions are especially sought after in Mozambique, but unfortunately a lot of what's available are toxic products. We would love to one day supply safer alternatives.

This fundraiser will cover:

• 1 male goat and 4 female goats to be bred to establish a small herd
• a simple shelter
• a fence enclosure
• water/feeding troughs

About our farm in Mozambique:

Our farm began in September 2022. Since then we have grown a variety of crops that supply our orphan and children's ministry programs with food. We also provide a valuable service to the local community via fresh produce sold at wholesale to businesses that would normally have to travel hours inland to obtain them. By selling wholesale, we are able to avoid direct competition with local farmers who rely heavily on selling their produce at retail prices in the local markets.

In September 2023, we began a chicken project as part of a teaching partnership with an international trade school in the area. We rented their facilities to raise chickens and taught their students how to raise them. In 2024, we are working to establish chicken houses on our own farm to ensure we have full control of our growing cycle. We also want to establish a small goat herd to teach others how to raise goats and to sell meat within the community.