Peasants complain of difficulties in selling cash crops

The meeting was raised at the rallies Guebuza addressed on Friday and Saturday at Mararange, in Montepuez district and at Meza, in Ancuabe district, as part of his “open and inclusive presidency” in the province.

Cotton producers in Mararange asked the President to intervene to persuade the companies that buy peasant cotton to fix the price for the season well in advance, while peasants in Meza claimed there is n market for their jatropha.

Mararange peasant Aurelio Rachide said that cotton had been sold for 15 meticais a kilo in the 2010/2011 campaign, but the producer price had fallen to 10.5 meticais a kilo in the current campaign.

“Encouraged by the 15 meticais, we stepped up cotton production”, he said. “But this was not rewarded by the price which fell drastically without anyone being forewarned”.

Rachide argued that the price should be fixed, not merely before the peasants harvested their cotton, but before they sowed the crop. The companies justify reducing the purchase price by citing the instability of the world cotton market.

As for jatropha, Meza farmer Tavares Albino lamented that the government had urged peasants to grow this biofuel crop. The peasants had responded, and had harvested their jatropha, only to find that there was no market for it.

“We were oriented to cultivate jatropha, but nobody comes to buy it”, he said.

However, Guebuza replied that this must be merely a matter of lack of information about where to place the product, since in Cabo Delgado “there are buyers of jatropha”.

“There is a market here in Cabo Delgado”, he insisted. “There is just a lack of information about where this market is to be found. The authorities will inform you better as to where you can sell your jatropha”.