The government of Mozambique has launched agricultural marketing campaign in the district of Marracuene.
The country’s President Filipe Nyusi performed the launch ceremony and said the campaign should bring immediate results in generating income for rural households, and in improving the well-being of Mozambicans, as fundamental objectives of his governance.
The marketing target for this year is slightly more than 17 million tonnes of assorted crops. 21 per cent of this figure should be grain, with root crops accounting for 45 per cent, vegetables 13 per cent, pulses 11 per cent, oilseeds four per cent, and miscellaneous other crops 20 per cent.
The President reaffirmed the government’s commitment to promote industrialisation as a factor that stimulates the expansion of agricultural production. This would involve “continuing the reforms that are under way to attract investment, alongside building infrastructures in the rural areas, particularly roads and electrification”.
Nyusi urged all those involved in marketing to make use of this Thursday’s visit by Malawian President, Lazarus Chakwera, in order to internationalise Mozambican economic activities.
Permanent dialogue
Chakwera, he said, will visit the installations in Marracuene of the Maputo International Trade Fair (FACIM), where he will address Mozambican businesspeople. “There’s a lot that Malawi produces, but above all there is a great deal that it needs, and it’s not difficult to take business to Malawi. Let’s internationalise our economic activities. You will see the impact of internationalization”.
For his part, the Minister of Industry and Trade, Silvino Moreno, said that, when speaking of the chain of agricultural marketing, the government is referring to the whole range of operational and market activities from the place of production, through harvesting, processing, storage and distribution until reaching the final consumer.
“The efficiency of this process requires improving activities at each stage in the chain so that the final product reaches the consumer within acceptable standards, and with the necessary quality”, he said.
Moreno added that it also requires permanent dialogue with the other stakeholders in marketing, including the stallholder farmers themselves, the transporters, storage and ago-processing units, industrialists, regulators and decision makers.
Nyusi also challenged Mozambican farmers to boost the production of onions and potatoes in order to improve the country’s balance of trade. He said that Mozambique is continuing to import potatoes that have been rejected by other countries.
“Let’s produce potatoes seriously, here in (the adjoining district of) Moamba. There are plenty of opportunities to grow potatoes, not only in Maputo province, but in Niassa, in the far north and in the central province of Tete. Let’s not humiliate ourselves by importing goods that we can grow here perfectly well,” said the head of state.
