Maputo — A new project to promote rural markets, budgeted at 40.6 million US dollars, was launched in Pemba, capital of the northern province of Cabo Delgado, on Monday seeking to boost access and participation of small scale farmers in the agricultural trade and value chain.

It is also aimed at improving intermediaries' performance and business partnerships, boosting production and creation of a favourable environment for agricultural markets operations.

The program that will be implemented over a seven-year period is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) that disbursed 31 million US dollars, in partnership with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which granted 3.5 million US dollars, and by the Mozambican government with 3.1 million US dollars.

The project will be implemented in the northern provinces of Cabo Delgado, Niassa and Nampula and the central province of Zambezia, to benefit about 20,000 small farmers organized in associations.

This project includes 15 districts namely, Montepuez, Chiúre, Namuno, Balama and Ancuabe in Cabo Delgado; Cuamba, Mauá, Marrupa, Mandimba, Metarica and Mecanhelas in Niassa; Ribaue, Malema in Nampula; Guru and Alto Molócuè in Zambezia.

Some of the factors that dictated selections of these districts include exceptional potential for agricultural production, considerable market activity and easy access for the development of both national and international markets.

According to Mozambique's Planning and Development Ministry, there are also some disadvantages such as co-existence of marketing monopolies, poor transparency of the markets, small individual farmers yet to be linked to large operations of centralized markets.

Mozambique's Planning and Development deputy Minister, Victor Bernardo, explained that the project falls into the context of Mozambique's strategy in the fight against abject poverty.

To that end, there is a need to promote fast economic growth, sustainable, comprehensive, and focused on the creation of a conducive environment for investment and development of entrepreneurship.

Bernardo also said that Mozambique achieved in recent years considerable gains in economic stability, which helped to boost growth and poverty reduction.

'Despite the economic and financial crisis that is currently affecting the world, our country shows a good economic performance, which is translated in an overall production growth of about seven percent, which in the first half of 2008 reached 6.7 percent, and 0.33 per cent inflation rate. During the first half of this year export of goods amounted to 396 million US dollars, 'said Bernardo.

These indicators, said Bernardo, allow to say unequivocally that the foundations of the Mozambican economy are stable, despite the major challenges faced by the country in the fight against poverty, particularly in the rural areas.