12 August 2008
Maputo — Mozambique's Minister of Industry and Trade, Antonio Fernando, recognised on Monday that difficulties still prevail in processing the country's natural resources to add value to them and promote sustainable development.
Addressing a Maputo workshop on the role of technologies in the processing of resources, Fernando said "Mozambique is rich in resources and their value chain could be increased if they are adequately exploited, but we have to develop such techniques and divulge them among the productive sectors".
He added that several obstacles must be faced and overcome, including the poor development or absence of industry in the countryside, lack of knowledge of simple processing technologies, and the high cost of obtaining processing equipment on international markets.
According to Fernando, if the country tackles these problems, even the current food crisis would not affect the country the way it does now, because there would be a capacity to manage the available foodstuffs and prevent losses and waste.
Speaking of the contribution of academic and research institutions to the processing of natural resources, Fernando reiterated the call for them to research which products have the highest commercial value when processed, in order to promote their consumption and export.
He also pointed out that those institutions have the challenge to study and define which new products may be processed to increase their availability.
For the country as a whole, Fernando said that the challenge is to invest and create capacity to produce processing technologies for specific goods, staff training for processing as an autonomous sector of activity, and to promote entrepreneurship, starting in early stages of education.
Besides seeking new ways to increase the role of science and technology in sustainable development, the workshop is also specifically discussing the Natural Resources Processing Technologies Programme, known as TecPro, based at the Engineering Faculty of Maputo's Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM).
UEM deputy vice-chancellor Orlando Quilambo said that, as part of this programme, his institution has been developing a multidisciplinary unit in the areas of energy, food security, and natural disasters.
Among the wide range of this programme's objectives are a greater use of local raw materials, improvement of nutritional levels and better dietary habits, while not neglecting traditional foodstuffs, valuing national produce, and protecting biodiversity.
This three day workshop is also discussing issues such as production and efficient use of energy for a sustainable development, the contribution of academic institutions to food production, and an explanation of specific examples of processing of timber, fruit and other agricultural products.
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