15 January 2008
Maputo — Italy has promised to support artisanal fisheries in the southern Mozambican provinces of Gaza and Inhambane.
Fisheries Minister Cadmiel Muthemba, the Italian ambassador, Guido Larcher, and the representative in Maputo of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Maria Zimmerman signed an agreement on Tuesday under which Italy will provide three million euros (about 4.2 million US dollars) for an artisanal fisheries development project in the two provinces.
The project will last for three years and is intended to benefit 60,000 households in Gaza and Inhambane. It will be coordinated by the National Institute for the Development of Small Scale fishing (IDPPE), and the FAO office will manage the Italian funds.
The funds will be used to improve the techniques employed by artisanal fishermen, to organise credit for individual fishermen and groups of fishermen, and to improve the systems of conservation, processing and sale of fisheries produce.
According to Italian embassy spokesperson Alberto Bortolani, "the final objective of the agreement is to improve the production, storage, transport and marketing capacities of the artisanal fishermen so that they can be economically successful".
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