He was speaking after swearing Armando Ussivane into office as the new chairperson of the board of this state-owned irrigation project. Ali said that irrigation is one of the main factors in the Green Revolution advocated by the government, and plays a key role in increasing agricultural production and productivity. Irrigation was therefore an important weapon in the fight against hunger and poverty.
With large scale irrigation, we are helping to ensure food security for all, and at all times, and to increasing the income and profitability of producers, while at the same time we guarantee supplies of agricultural produce for the domestic and foreign markets, he added.
Despite recent progress, the area under irrigation in Mozambique is still only about 62,000 hectares or about two per cent of the potential, which is estimated at three million hectares.
The Lower Limpopo system is the second largest irrigation scheme in the country, exceeded only by the Chokwe irrigated perimeter, also in the Limpopo Valley. Ali declared that the Lower Limpopo scheme is of crucial importance for stimulating agricultural production and boosting the economy of this part of the country.
The viability of the irrigation system depends on increasing the productivity of farmers, said Ali. This rests on improving crop systems, diversifying crops, with an eye to the market, and in making support services available to farmers. The irrigation company, he continued, must establish linkages between the farmers and the markets both those supplying agricultural inputs, and those that will buy the farmers crops. Ussivane said that turning the Lower Limpopo into a pole of development will require drawing up a strategic plan, that will incorporate several scenarios intended to guide and stimulate food production.
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