A delegation from the People’s Committee of the Vietnamese province of Binh Phuoc, including the potential investors, visited the Nampula districts of Mogovolas, Ribaue and Meconta, and said they were impressed with the potential they saw there.
The head of the delegation, Truong Tan Thieu, said the agro-ecological conditions in the three districts were extremely good for cassava, cashews and timber, and the deep water port of Nacala is within easy distance for exports.
But Truong also pointed to a series of constraints – including poor roads, inadequate electricity and water supplies, and a shortage of skilled labour.
The Nampula Provincial Governor, Felismino Tocoli, admitted that these problems exist, but stressed that the Mozambican government is following development policies intended to overcome them.
Despite the constraints, Tocoli and Truong signed a set of minutes declaring their intention to implement the cooperation agreements between the Nampula provincial government and the Binh Thuoc People’s Committee that were initialed when Tocoli visited Vietnam in January 2011.
Under the latest agreement the Nampula authorities will grant the Vietnamese investors 10,000 hectares in Mogovolas for planting cashew trees, and 30 hectares on which a cashew processing plant will be built.
In Ribaue, 20,000 hectares will be made available for cassava production, and in Meconta the Vietnamese will be granted a forestry concession, and areas to install sawmills and other timber processing equipment.
While the Mozambicans will provide the cashew saplings and improved, disease-tolerant cassava varieties, the Vietnamese promise to being specialists, managers and scientific know-how, related to research into cashew and cassava cultivation techniques.
Post published in: Africa News