Mozambique: Launches Agricultural Campaign

Maputo — The Mozambican government hopes to market 3.4 million tonnes of grain in the 2025-2026 agricultural years, which would be a seven per cent increase on this year's harvest.

Launching the agricultural year at a ceremony in Mafambisse, in the central province of Sofala, on Thursday, President Daniel Chapo said the target for root crops is "more than ten million tonnes, with cassava production growing by five per cent'.

Production of one of the country's main cash crops, cashew nuts, should grow by 13 per cent, reaching over 180,000 tonnes.

As for livestock, Chapo forecast a five per cent growth in cattle production and a 26 per cent growth in egg production.

The President declared that "Mozambican agriculture is on the march - with more organisation, more science and more vision - in order to produce more, to reduce dependence on imports and strengthen food security'.

Private business should lead the agricultural value chain, said Chapo, while the government "centres its interventions on research and technological innovation', as well as ensuring that farmers have access to land and to finance.

The government's objective, he declared, was "to transform subsistence agriculture into an agriculture that is capable of feeding Mozambique'.

Agriculture should "contribute to macro-economic stability through import substitution and generating foreign exchange for the country'. This would change the balance of payments by increasing exports and importing less food.

Chapo said this would depend on empowering rural women and persuading young people to see opportunities in farming. Agriculture should not be "a destination of poverty', he said, but "an opportunity to prosper and to sustain a life of dignity'.

"With training, technology and access to finance, the countryside today is a space for innovation, business and wealth creation for our young people', he declared.

Among the reforms the government intends to introduce, said Chapo, are amendments to the Land Law "to guarantee fair and productive access to land, giving priority to rural youth and women'.

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