18 February 2008
Maputo — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Monday stressed that, although the country needs to produce biofuels, they must never be allowed to endanger food security.
Addressing a meeting of the Consultative Council of the Ministry of Agriculture in Maputo, Guebuza insisted that biofuels are supposed to solve problems, not make them worse.
"Biofuels must never endanger the interests of the people", he declared. That meant in particular that Mozambique must not allow biofuel production to deprive farmers of their land.
Guebuza called for biofuels to be grown on marginal land, and not on fertile soils appropriate for growing food crops.
In 2005, the government set up a Commission on Biofuels, which recommended producing ethanol from sugar cane, sorghum and cassava, and using jatropha, sunflower, coconut, soya and African palm oil as raw material for biodiesel. Currently the Commission is drawing up a strategy on the matter, which should be ready by June, and will be placed before the government for approval.
As for the "Green Revolution" the government has promised, Guebuza said some progress has been made, but not enough. He was particularly concerned at the continuing long delays in granting farmers title to their land.
Guebuza stressed that means must be found to speed up the granting of land titles, and increase the number of farmers who have formal title to their land.
Greater attention must be paid to all matters that could weaken implementation of the Green Revolution strategy, he said.
He was critical of some of the documents placed before the meeting. Thus one referred to the challenge of increasing the availability of meat and milk to supply the domestic market, but failed to mention how much milk and meat is currently imported. Guebuza argued that, if the country is to achieve "food sovereignty", it must know how much of any given foodstuff is required - and after meeting the domestic demand, draw up plans for possible exports.
Nor was Guebuza impressed by a simple mention of the number of rural extensionists in the country. The question, he said, was to know how many extensionists are required in each of the country's 128 districts, so that each district can commit itself fully to the government's agricultural strategy.
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