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Mozambique: Country Faces Grain Deficit
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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
12 March 2008
Posted to the web 12 March 2008
Maputo
Mozambique is facing a deficit of 1.25 million tonnes of grain this year, according to the coordinator of the National Agriculture Development Programme (PROAGRI), Fernando Songane.
Songane told AIM that, despite the improvement in the maize harvest in recent years, Mozambique still faces a shortfall of about 500,000 tonnes of this staple. As for rice, Mozambique will need to import 400,000 tonnes. Almost all of Mozambique's wheat is imported, and Songane put the shortfall at 350,000 tonnes over the year.
Songane stressed that Mozambique has very low agricultural productivity. He warned that maize productivity, which is the lowest in Southern Africa, needs to quadruple if it is to satisfy the needs of consumers.
To achieve this, he said, the country needs to introduce new agricultural technologies, improved seeds, more widespread use of irrigation, better pest control, and an improved marketing system.
"We must improve our capacity to use water in agriculture so that we can produce all year round", said Songane. "This is because there are some crops that can provide two or three harvests a year, but this is not happening because of a shortage of water".
He also stressed the need to improve the marketing system so that "farmers will feel motivated to produce ever more, knowing that their produce will be sold".
Songane added that for the "Green Revolution" advocated by the government to be successful, it is essential that the foundations be laid "for us to have secure and sustainable production, which implies the use of better agricultural inputs, including improved seeds, and guaranteed water for irrigation".
In the 2007 harvest, Mozambican farmers produced 2,168,000 tonnes of grain, compared with 2,098,000 the previous year, which represented growth of 3.4 per cent.
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Ram/bm/pf (296)
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