Minister for Agriculture Soares Nhaca said in an interview his sector was allocated 10 percent of the $4 billion 2009 state budget to help purchase and improve the quality of seeds, as well as to introduce irrigation and mechanized farming.
Agriculture – traditionally the third biggest spending ministry after education and health — received five percent of the 2008 budget, lifting it above education and health in a bid to boost food output and combat severe food shortages and soaring prices.
"Our key objective is to raise production of grain by 13 percent in 2009/2010 from this year’s forecast output of 2.6 million tonnes," Nhaca said, adding that 2008/09 output would be a 17 percent increase from the 2007/2008 season.
Agriculture is the backbone of the economy, providing employment for over 75 percent of the workforce.
"We have lots of objectives, one being that we want to be self-sufficient in maize, wheat and rice in the next three years," he said.
The government says 450,000 people need food aid in southern and central areas due to poor rains and high food prices and it has asked the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) to increase its humanitarian assistance in seven provinces.
Mozambique, one of the poorest nations on the continent, is struggling to rebuild its economy, which was neglected during a 17-year civil war that ended in 1992 that left its farming, education and health-care system in a dilapidated state.
Flooding, which lashed the highly productive and fertile agricultural land in recent years, will not harm planned production particularly rice.
"We are giving high quality seeds, especially of rice, to farmers in the flood hit areas to plant again," he said.
"Rice needs water so we see the possibility of higher returns. We are also building laboratories and equipping them to have high quality seeds," he added.
Despite the need for food aid, the former Portuguese colony will not import any genetically modified food, but would seek to improve the quality of local seeds in the laboratories, he said.
HUGE POTENTIAL
Mozambique has immense agricultural potential, with an estimated 36 million hectares of arable land, of which only 10 percent is presently in productive use. Farm land has been devastated by heavy flood making roads impassable.
The government has embarked on a drive to attract foreign investors for its profitable sugar industry.
"We are inviting foreign investors to build new sugar factories. We have four mills in operation and we want to have more particularly in central Mozambique. We are in talks with a foreign investor to build a new and bigger factory," he said.
He declined to indicate the capacity of the proposed plant and the required investment in capital.
Nhaca said the government will invest in repairing roads which were neglected during the civil war and later damaged by floods in order to boost productivity and agriculture marketing.
"The government is working hard to increase agriculture activity by building new roads and rehabilitating those which were either damaged during the war or by flooding particularly in those areas with production potential," he said.
Reuters
Post published in: Economy