22 July 2008
Mecanhelas — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza declared on Monday that the success of the green revolution in Mozambique lies in the hands of the family sector, not of big projects such as "Mozagrius".
Guebuza was speaking on his arrival in the town of Mecanhelas, on the first day of a working visit to the northern province of Niassa. Mozagrius was a grandiose scheme in the mid-1990s, whereby South African farmers were to be attracted to Niassa, where their mechanized agriculture would boost production. But although some of the South African media compared the scheme to a second "great trek", in fact only a dozen or so South Africans came to Niassa, and most left within a few years. The money was never forthcoming and the scheme collapsed.
Guebuza said that the government intends to increase the number of rural extensionists and provide them with conditions to assist the family producers with no major problems.
Agriculture Minister Soares Nhaca, who is accompanying Guebuza, said that the government is planning to recruit 185 extensionists this year, to add to the 577 who are already working across the country.
According to Guebuza, large scale projects may not respond to the goals of the green revolution because their primary objective is to make a profit. However, Guebuza acknowledged the role played by commercial farmers in increasing production and productivity, but reiterated that the family sector is the key to success in food self-sufficiency.
He added that, in parallel with strengthening the family sector, it is necessary to improve access roads to ensure easy circulation of people and goods, given the great farming potential of Niassa, the largest but most sparsely populated province in the country.
Addressing a rally in Mecanhelas, Guebuza urged the residents to take advantage of the district's potential, notably in rice, to increase production and help the country stop importing what it has the capacity to produce and even export.
On Monday, Guebuza also took part in an extraordinary session of the Niassa provincial government, where he praised the fact that the province has recorded a 12 per cent economic growth during the last two years. Production of foodstuffs in 2007 was 82 per cent higher than in 2004.
Provincial governor Arnaldo Bimbe claimed that annual average food production in Niassa over the last three years was 480,366 tonnes. He said that with such levels of production Niassa has attained food security, except in some isolated cases of pockets of hunger.
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