We were told we could get sunflower seeds if we formed an association, so in 1999 we did. And a trader came from Pemba and bought our sunflower. But he paid such a low price that we realised this could not be our ‘struggle against absolute poverty’. So in 2002, we decided to try paprika, because an INGO, Care, gave us seeds, fertiliser and extension support, and said they had a buyer funded by Dutch aid. But no one ever came to buy our paprika. So we had a meeting and decided to try onions. Now all 33 of us produce onions – some people take them to the local market to sell and a few traders come here. But that is limited. We hope to produce 40 tons of onion this year, but can we sell them? We have no transport to take onions to bigger markets like Nampula; no one will help us with transport. (Jaime Agostinho, treasurer of Associação de Ehiquite-Iapala in the west of Nampula province.)