Mozambique: 40,000 Hectares of Farmland Lost Because of Pesticide Abuse

In the 2018-19 agricultural campaign, Mozambique lost over 40,000 hectares of cultivated land because of the abuse of pesticides in the attempt to control insect pests.

Aderito Lazaro of the Plant Health Department in the Ministry of Agriculture, said "the use of chemicals should be a last resort. However, at the first sign of a pest, the producers grab their pesticides, and one of the mistakes is that they use the same substance repeatedly. They should rotate".

Lazaro cited the case of Boane district, 30 kilometres west of Maputo, where farmers had doubled the amount of pesticides used per week - without getting rid of the pests damaging the maize crop. Insects are showing signs of resistance to pesticides throughout the country.

The Agriculture Ministry, in partnership with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has publicised methods to handle pests through an integrated range of measures, including not only conventional insecticides, but also biological pesticides and improved seed.

Meanwhile, a new pest is threatening banana growers in Chokwe district, in the Limpopo valley. This is the banana bunchy top virus (BBTV). To prevent the spread of the virus the authorities are destroying infected banana trees in several plantations.

"This virus is lethal, and regardless of whether we cut the trees down or not, they will die", said Celso Rufasse, coordinator of the BBTV project, cited by the independent daily "O Pais".

"If we don't cut the trees down, there will be a greater dispersal of the disease", he continued. "The goal is to avoid the spread of the virus, so that we can eradicate the disease".

Destroying the infected plants began a month ago, and so far almost 30,000 banana trees have been cut down in Chokwe. There is ban in place on the movement of bananas from Chokwe to elsewhere in the country.

The elimination of infected plants is budgeted at 20 million meticais (about 323,000 US dollars), and this task is receiving assistance from South Africa and the United States.

The virus is transmitted plant to plant by banana aphids. The virus damages the cells of the host plant, and usually prevents it from producing fruit. Any fruit that is produced is likely to be deformed.

Since there are no varieties of banana that are resistant to the virus, the only ways to eliminate the disease are to control the aphids, or to remove and destroy infected plants before the virus spreads.

https://allafrica.com/stories/201907170819.html

South African sugar producers expand into Mozambique

Tariff rebates by the European Union on Mozambican products are one reason South African companies producers are finding it attractive to grow and process sugar cane in that country. Lower labor costs and a growing local sugar demand are other reasons.

THe South African CEO of major sugar producer Tongaat Hulett says, "Sugar production in Mozambique is expected to grow by 30% over the next three years to above 310000 tonnes/year (from 233000 tonnes/year) together with a reduction in unit costs."

article...Financial Mail

Mozambique to grow GM cotton with help from China

Mozambique and China are expected in November to conclude negotiations on introducing genetically-modified cotton into the African country, according to Mozambican daily newspaper Correio da Manhã.

At that time a delegation of technicians from the Mozambique Cotton Institute (IAM) and the Mozambican Institute of Agricultural Research (IIAM) is due to travel to China to conclude negotiations, which will be followed by the first tests, initially in the district of Morrumbala, in Zambézia province.

According to the IAM, genetically-modified varieties of cotton are being tested in 57 countries, involving over 14 million farmers and test fields cover an estimated area of 134 million hectares.

The IAM’s projections show that in 2013 Mozambique is expected to earn US$47.5 million from cotton exports, which this year are expected to total an estimated US$43.2 million.

Club of Mozambique

Oil, mining investment contributing to decline of Mozambique cashew sector

A sudden new influx of external investment in oil exploration and mining has strengthened the value of the Mozambican currency, the metical, against the U.S. dollar, causing the country's cashew nuts to become too expensive for foreign buyers, who now go to cheaper markets. With a steep decline in buyers, the fortunes of cashew farmers have also declined

From 113,00 tonnes harvested in 2010, only 63,000 tonnes of cashew were harvested in 2011.
 
more...

South Africans to invest in Mozambique's sugar sector

A group of South Africans is expected to invest in sugar growing on a 10,000 hectare area in Mozambique's Zambézia province.

A district official is reported to have told news agencies that work on the sugar plant was expected to begin in the second half of 2012. 400 direct jobs and up to 3000 more downstream are hoped for from the investment.

The sugar plant would be Mozambique's fifth.

African Agriculture

Brazilian agribusinesss Agricola looks to Mozambique for expansion

SLC Agricola turned the tables on the wave of foreign interest in Brazilian farmland by seeking farms outside the South American country, probably in Africa, in a drive to expand its empire.

The farm operator, based in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, unveiled an "internationalization plan" which will see it acquire, and plant, foreign farmland by 2015-16.

"The initial focus will be the African continent," SLC Agricola said, adding that it was to study Mozambique "in depth."

The foreign quest will supercharge a drive to increase its farmland by 2020-21 to 700,000 planted acres, of which 20% will be abroad, implying 140,000 hectares in foreign acquisitions. SLC's current land bank spans 300,000 hectares, including conservation areas, all in Brazil.

The move contrasts with a scramble for South American land by many foreign investors, particularly in countries such as China and Saudi Arabia which are large food importers.

Both Argentina and Brazil, South America's top two farming nations, have drawn up restrictions on foreign ownership of land, although such reforms have provoked controversy. Brazil is still, 18 months after issuing interim restrictions, in reaction to talk of Chinese plans for large-scale land purchases, to unveil definitive rules.

However, the growing expense of South American farms is prompting many Brazilians to join the throng of investors seeking foreign plots, relying on agricultural expertise, as well as money, for success in what can be a politically-charged process to win deals.

Mozambique has appeared particularly welcoming to Brazilian farmers, with Mozambican farm minister José Pacheco raising the topic on a visit to the South American country last year.

Pinesso Group, based in the major Brazilian agricultural state of Mato Grosso, has unveiled plans to expand its African operations, centered in Sudan, into Mozambique.

In September 2011, farmland investment company Agrifirma Brazil – whose backers include Lord Rothschild, which is advised by commodities investor Jim Rogers? revealed it was to place most of its Brazilian farm operations into a joint venture and seek "attractive opportunities elsewhere.”

full article...Agrimoney

Agriterra’s cattle ranching operations in Mozambique on target

Agriterra Limited, listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market, continues to expand its Mozambican cattle ranching operations.

The total herd now stands at 3,750, on course to reach 10,000 by 2015. The 5,000 target for 2012 is within reach.

Support infrastructure is being expanded, including a new 48 billion liter dam expected to increase per hectare capacity from 1.5 to 7 head, as well as new feedlots and an expanded stud ranch. The dam will be capable of irrigating 4,000 hectares and provide 132kV of hydroelectric power for the irrigation pumps.

In its efforts to encompass all aspects of the beef business, the company has opened a number of butcheries. A new abattoir with a capacity of 4,000 head per month will commence operations in August 2012. Average carcass prices range from US$ 835 to $1100 each.

African Agriculture

Argentine experts to assist Mozambican fruit industry

Argentina plans to share its agricultural expertise with Mozambican farmers to help increase yields and productivity in a range of crops, including bananas, citrus and exotic fruit.

A delegation from the government-backed National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) recently met with farmers to discuss starting a pilot project between March and April. The move follows a research project in neighboring South Africa that was launched in late 2011.

INTA international technical cooperation general manager Daniel Díaz, said his organization would be looking at how to replicate Argentina’s successful Pro-Huerta project, which helped 600,000 families develop their farmland, in Mozambique.

“The areas of cooperation with the African country would be animal and plant health, direct sowing, biotechnology, irrigation, technology transfer, development of crops,” he said.

Diaz said he was confident the new iniative would be successful because of the Mozambican farmers’ agricultural experience and willingness to learn. The Mozambique National Farmers Union has welcomed the project as a major boost for its plans to increase the country’s agricultural development.

Mozambique has 36 million hectares of potential farming land but at the moment just 10% of its land is devoted to crop growing. The country has a population of 21 million with 3,500,000 small producers, living off plots of land of 0.5-5 hectares, accounting for 98% of all farms.

In addition to fruit the country’s main crops are beans, cassava, rice, soya beans, palm oil, sunflower oil, sweet potatoes cotton and cotton.

freshfruitportal

Chinese technology to increase rice yields in Mozambique

Mozambican Prime Minister Aires Ali has challenged the country's young people, as well as its businesses, to increase food production, by banking on the introduction of new agricultural technologies to increase yields.

This would be possible, he said, through the use of knowledge and techniques learnt through the cooperation between Mozambique and China.

According to a report in the Beira daily paper "Diario de Mocambique", Ali was speaking during a working visit to the Lower Limpopo irrigation scheme in the southern province of Gaza. Here, in the Ponela block, a rice production project is underway as part of the twinning between Gaza and the Chinese province of Hubei.

A memorandum signed between the two provinces in mid-2007 stipulates that in an initial phase the Chinese investors should ensure rice production in an area of 300 hectares.

Tests began two years ago, and since then rice production at Ponela has been raised to ten tonnes per hectare. Previously, under the traditional Mozambican system, yields were between two and three tonnes per hectare. The Chinese production techniques have been transferred to about 20 Mozambican farmers to date.

"What we want is that Mozambicans, particularly young people and the business sector, should embrace this project enthusiastically, obtaining the technologies and the machinery to increase production levels", said Ali.
Gaza has educational institutions that specialize in agriculture, and Ali suggested that students from these colleges should go the Lower Limpopo irrigation scheme for apprenticeships where they would assimilate Chinese rice production techniques.

Agricultural engineers and other specialists should also visit Ponela, he said, so that they could understand the Chinese technologies and spread them to other provinces.

The Ponela block covers about 11,000 hectares or arable land. 7,000 hectares are worked by commercial farmers, and the other 4,000 hectares are in the hands of around 8,000 peasant producers.


AIM

New UN initiative to boost Mozambican crop yields

A new United Nations initiative in Mozambique aimed at increasing the quality of seeds will help the African country capitalize on its arable land and unlock its potential, the Organization’s agricultural agency announced today. The effort, launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), seeks to help Mozambican farmers by increasing the quality of local seed production and boosting the country’s overall crop yields.

“Increasing agricultural production in a country whose yields are among the lowest in the world starts with boosting productivity,” said José de Graça, the coordinator for the FAO project in the country.

Increasing agricultural production in a country whose yields are among the lowest in the world starts with boosting productivity.

According to FAO, only 10 per cent of Mozambique’s arable land is cultivated and most farmers still use sub-standard seeds. Following a surge in global food prices during the 2007-2008 biennium, the UN initiative has become central to guaranteeing food stability across the country.

“It has become crucial to increase production,” said Mahomed Valá, national director of agrarian services in Mozambique’s agriculture ministry. “At least 15 per cent of our farmers should have access to quality seeds in five to six years.”

Throughout the project, FAO worked with 15 seed companies 1,000 small-scale seed growers to stimulate local seed production across seven of Mozambique’s provinces. An estimated 3,500 tons of seeds for crops, including maize, rice, beans, soybeans, and sunflower, were grown.

The programme also provided support to 25,000 smallholder farmers, who received nearly 1,000 tonnes of maize and rice seeds as well as fertilizer and tools at subsidized prices.

Paulo Calção, a farmer from the country’s central Manica province, welcomed the initiative, noting that thanks to FAO’s direct support, his last harvest produced 2,880 kilograms of maize. He confirmed he would continue using the improved seeds even if the subsidies ceased.

While FAO called the gains stemming from the project “significant,” it also warned that an estimated four million smallholder farmers continue to require support and that more effort is needed to offset Mozambique’s annual food deficit of one million tons.

UN

Mozambique government builds small scale irrigation schemes

New, small scale irrigation systems are being installed in the districts of Gorongosa, Buzi and Nhamatanda, in the central Mozambican province of Sofala, by the Ministry of Agriculture in order to increase food production.

The Sofala Provincial Director of Agriculture, Miguel Coimbra, said the new irrigation systems will bring water to an area of about ten hectares in each of the regions of Move, Chitunga, Bebeto and Lamego.

These small irrigation schemes, aimed at peasant farmers, are part of a series of Ministry of Agriculture projects covering 130 hectares of food crops in Buzi, Marromeu, Dondo and Chemba districts.

The projects also cover include control of the lethal yellowing disease that is severely damaging Mozambique’s coconut palms, and controlling the fruit fly infestation in Caia, Dondo and Nhamatanda districts and in Beira city.

Meanwhile, the Beira Economic Activities Services have distributed 110 tons of rice seeds at subsidised prices to producers in the green belt around the city to enhance rice production.

The head of the Economic Activities Services in the city, Fabiao Simhane, said that the improved seeds benefited some 3,000 rice farmers – almost twice as many peasants as the 1,600 cultivating rice around Beira in the previous season.

In addition to the seeds the farmers also benefited from fertilizers, pesticides and other agricultural inputs, as well as fruit trees to improve the diet of Beira citizens.

The Zimbabwean

Mozambique agriculture still mostly for subsistence

Agricultural activities in Mozambique are still 99.9 percent subsistence farming on a small and medium scale, according to figures from the 2009/2010 Agri-Livestock Census published Tuesday in Maputo.

The figures, which were published by Mozambique’s National Statistics Institute (INE), also showed that of all the country’s farms just 1.8 percent use ploughs and 1.6 percent use tractors.

Cited by daily newspaper Notícias the figures showed that in terms of farmed area there had been growth of 45.6 percent over 10 years, from 3.8 million hectares to 5.6 million hectares and 57 percent of small and medium-sized farms were taken up with basic food crops.

The same figures showed that the level of arable land use is still very low as the 5.6 million hectares of land that are worked account for just 15.6 percent of the 36 million hectares that are available.

The census showed that there are around 1.3 million cattle, 4 million goats and 24 million chickens in Mozambique and just 5.4 percent of farms breed cattle whilst 61 percent raise chickens.

The 2009-2010 census is part of the 2008-2012 Strategic National Statistics Plan (SEN) approved by the Higher Statistics Council and on the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) recommendations.

The data was collected in two stages, the first of which from January to November of 2010 across the country, and also covering the city of Maputo for the first time.

The second phase was carried out from April to May 2011 in just four provinces of southern Mozambique where production figures were collected that are now being analysed by the Agriculture Ministry. (mozahub)

Mozahub

Irrigation helps Mozambican farmers survive unreliable rains

by Fidelis Zvomuya

It’s mid-morning in Cunze village in Mozambique’s Gaza province, and farmer Antonio Alfonso Chibuto stands in a muddy field by a roaring irrigation stream, trying to work out how soon he dares plant again this season.

Water spills down a hand-hewn dirt canal, bubbling and pooling until it arrives at a deep pond that distributes it to rows of healthy, organically grown crops.

The 87-year-old farmer’s green fields contrast starkly with the surrounding dry landscape, criss-crossed by bumpy dirt roads, and barefoot women and children carrying water jugs and firewood.

Cunze’s inhabitants are highly dependent on subsistence agriculture and livestock production. Over the past two decades, farming families have gone from growing everything to buying everything as increasingly unpredictable weather patterns have left half the fertile fields barren.

“We have been clinging to life on an unforgiving terrain,” says Chibuto. “The past decade has been a lot more difficult than usual because the rains have failed.”

But despite the region’s fourth con­secutive year of alternating drought and heavy floods, Chibuto is enjoying a good harvest for the first time in more than 20 years, thanks to two initiatives to protect local people from weather disasters: an irrigation scheme and a community-led early warning programme.

The irrigation technology, installed as part of the development of Parque Nacional do Limpopo (Limpopo National Park), where Cunze village is located, pumps water from the Olifants River, using a diesel-powered engine, to a reservoir from where a gravity system distributes it to farms.

Thanks to this project, Chibuto and other farmers in Massingir district are finally starting to cope with the worsening weather variability that was damaging their livelihoods.

“If you had been here a year ago, this was a dust bowl,” says Chibuto, gesturing towards his fields. “I am happy now. I have so far had my first harvest and am still calculating the profits.”

A complementary early warning system, introduced by the southeast African nation’s government in 2002, aims to prevent loss of life, homes and crops to flooding and storms. It relies on local people who measure precipitation and river levels, and broadcast radio warnings when key benchmarks are reached.

“Easy-to-read gauges of the river's level are checked regularly. If it rises above a certain point, trained assistants from the local population immediately send a radio message,” explains Parque Nacional do Limpopo administrator Baldeu Chande.

The system proved its effectiveness in 2007, when Cyclone Favio caused severe damage in central Mozambique but did not claim any lives, according to Chande.

The early warning system currently covers 9,500 families in Massingir, and is gradually being expanded. District hazard maps have also been created.

Chande says climate change is likely to be a major contributor to the erratic weather patterns, droughts and storms that have brought growing suffering to Gaza province.

The resulting decrease in the productivity of small-scale farmers has caused a spike in food prices and higher malnutrition rates among children, according to experts.

Short dry spells and unpredictable rainy seasons have destroyed crops and reduced the quality of grazing for livestock. At times, flash floods have caused the region’s spongy peat soils to disintegrate, destabilising homes and wrecking fields.

“Houses and schools are washed away, enormous gullies appear on slopes, and roads simply disappear in the deluge,” Chande says.

In recent years, farmer Chibuto can recall floods sweeping away cattle and goats, and sending mud houses collapsing back into the earth. “We used to lose so much,” he says.

The rains are also coming later, shortening growing seasons, and arriving at unexpected times.

“Such untimely rains are especially bad for us, because most of our crops do not tolerate rain at inappropriate times. And when it does rain, the intensity is higher than we are used to. The soils are not able to take up all of the water and a major amount is lost due to run-off,” says Chibuto.

Farmers who depend on rain-fed agriculture, and have few other options, are struggling to adapt to the weather shifts, according to park administrator Chande.

“Sometimes the only coping strategy available is to temporarily abandon fields and look for employment in nearby cities,” he says.

Even under normal rainfall conditions, local soil nutrients have been so depleted that yields of crops such as maize reach only about half a tonne per acre, around one-third of their historical level.

In response, the Parque Nacional do Limpopo began working on the farm irrigation project in 2005 with the German government’s international cooperation agency, GIZ, providing funding as well as training in technical skills such as sharing water resources sustainably.

It now covers three districts - Massingir, Mabalane and Chicualacuala - and benefits some 1,400 people from 165 families.

YEAR-ROUND FOOD SECURITY

Wibke Thies, coordinator of a forest management project run by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) which supports the management of shared water resources in the region, says the irrigation scheme is boosting food security and will help rural communities adapt to climate change.

Participating families have seen their once dry and dusty fields transformed into carpets of lush green. Most now enjoy a secure food supply all year round, and are even able to sell excess produce on local markets, according to Thies.

Previously they could only provide their own food for six months of the year, after which time they had to sell their cattle or depend on money sent by relatives working in South Africa.

Before the installation of his irrigation system, Chibuto had been experimenting with other ways to deal with the changing climate. He started off by constructing bunds around his fields to stop water and topsoil being swept away.

“I also had to shift my cropping patterns to more heat-adapted and less water-demanding varieties such as groundnuts, maize, mil­lets and vegetables,” he says.

Then in 2010, when he was offered the chance to join the irrigation scheme, he quickly agreed, receiving hoses and a huge bucket - a rudimentary but effective crop sprinkler system for his plot. That developed into the more complex and less laborious set-up he uses today.

The farmer is now looking forward to a whole year of green fields, irrespective of the vagaries of the local climate - and to a life changed for the better.

“I am now raising in the region of around $30 per day - sometimes as much as $50 - from the sale of my vegetables. I also provide some to elderly people who cannot afford to buy fresh produce,” he says. “That is something I could not do previously.”

Alertnet

SABMiller launches cassava beer in Mozambique

The biggest brewer in southern Africa has launched the first commercial beer made from the cassava plant.

Homebrew spirits on the continent, fermented from cassava and other root tubers, are popular because they are cheap but they can be lethal.

SABMiller executives said the new beer would give consumers an affordable, safer alternative to such homebrews.

Cassava is considered a staple food crop in Africa but the firm denies the beer will lead to food shortages.

The beer, called Impala, is being brewed in Mozambique and will require about 40,000 tonnes of raw cassava per year.

Cassava accounts for 70% of the new brew.

The SABMiller project - called Farming Better Futures - uses smallholder farmers to grow the cassava crop.

Mark Bowman, the managing director of SABMiller, said to would offer enormous agricultural potential to farmers.

It would create employment for more than 1,500 farmers and their families, the company said.

Thanks to using locally grown cassava and a reduced tax rate agreed by the Mozambique government, Impala was 30% cheaper than mainstream lager, it said.

BBC

Can Brazilian agribusiness create prosperity in Africa?

by Paul Gayle*

Brazil’s booming agribusiness may have found greener pastures. The government of

Mozambique has offered a 50 year concession to Brazilian farmers to plant soy, corn and cotton in the northern part of the impoverished African nation.

This follows Mozambique’s launch last year of a $13.4 million program called PROSAVANA, in conjunction with Brazil’s agricultural research group "Embrapa" and the Japanese government, which is meant to promote industrial farming for export together with small family farming.

Brazil’s  agricultural industry sees Mozambique as a being a potential new Mato

Grosso. That’s the sprawling Brazilian state almost as large as Venezuela that is the country’s biggest producer of cash crops. The region is far more productive than the US farm belt because farmers can produce two harvests per year compared to one in North America.

So will the people of Mozambique benefit from the expansion of Brazil’s agricultural frontier into eastern Africa? Or will big agribusiness run roughshod over local farmers as foreigners have done for centuries in Africa?

I think it would be unfair and unwise to overlook the potential for technology transfer and economic development that Brazil could provide its African counterpart. But turning agribusiness into a sustainable creator of jobs in a nation with rampant poverty is going to be a real challenge – and the outcome will likely depend on clear vision and careful regulation by Mozambique’s government.

To begin with, it’s not easy to maintain small-scale family farms alongside large-scale

 agriculture. This was made clear in Brazil’s experience with palm oil plantations in the Amazon, where families who originally planned to grow dende palm alongside their existing subsistence crops but found they had to abandon food crops because of the time they had to dedicate to the cash crops.

A recent story in Folha de Sao Paulo (translated here from Portuguese) quotes a Brazilian farm industry official who suggests that some farm companies may see the move to Mozambique as a way to escape Brazil’s environmental rules:

‘‘Mozambique is a Mato Grosso in the middle of Africa, with free land, without

environmental impediments, and with much cheaper freight to China. Today, in addition to land being exceedingly expensive in Mato Grosso,

it’s impossible to get a license to deforest and clean an area,” said Carlos Ernesto Augustin, President of the Mato Grosso Cotton Producers’ Association.

A bit of history is in order here. Mato Grosso literally means “thick plants,” because the area was once heavily vegetated pasture and forest at the southern end of the Amazon.

Brazil’s military dictatorship during the 1970s, spurred by a paranoid fear of a foreign invasion, recruited farmers from the south of the country and offered them free land if they would promise to cut down what vegetation did exist. The place did not always look like Iowa.

Times have changed of course, and now there are rules about how much area must be planted with native species. A dizzying number of permits are required for farmers who want to expand their holdings. So it’s hard not  to note a hint of nostalgia for the old days in Augustin’s comments.

It may not be a coincidence that farmers in Mato Grosso this year have been the country’s leading Amazon deforesters. And it also may not be by chance that the deforestation has for the first time in recent memory been driven by the expansion of soy crops, rather than by the cattle ranching that had previously been responsible.

The cotton association says it does not yet know which of the farming companies

would participate in the Mozambique project. One would likely be Grupe Andre Maggi,  the powerful soy conglomerate owned by former Mato Grosso governor

Blairo Maggi. Other firms could include the Grupo Bom Futuro conglomerate, which has operations ranging from grains production to cattle ranching and fish farming, or publicly listed soy, cotton and corn giant SLC Agricola.

But just like it’s unfair to pass off environmentalists as elitists opposed to job creation, it’s similarly problematic to lump all agribusiness into the category of environmental predators. The possibility for technology transfer that would give

farmers in Mozambique new skills is an appealing one for a poor African country with few industries. The idea of PRO-SAVANNA focusing on both small-scale farming for local consumption and agribusiness for export suggests the idea is more well-rounded that the 1970s dictatorship-backed expeditions in land reclamation.

The Nacala region of Mozambique, the area that could be offered to Brazilian

companies, is similar to the savanna known as the cerrado that is typical of Mato Grosso. That area was identified by Nobel Peace Prize winner and Green Revolution leader Norman Borlaug as one of the last remaining frontiers available for agricultural expansion.

There’s nothing to say this partnership can’t work for both sides. But there is quite a lot to be said for avoiding the creation of another Mato Grosso in the middle of sub-Saharan Africa, where the socioeconomic conditions would likely create a region with problems much more complex than the Mato Grosso of central-western Brazil.

 

Sustainable Business Forum 

  

*‘Paul’ is an American journalist who lives in  Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a strong interest in sustainability. His employer would prefer that he not blog under his real name.

He maintains his own blog, called "Lungs of the Earth"  (http://lungsoftheearth.blogspot.com/) about environmental issues in Brazil.

Mozambique farming hampered by outdated techniques

 For Mozambique to become more competitive, it is fundamental that the country should invest in improving the efficiency of its agricultural production, according to the National Director of Agricultural Extension, Momed Vala.

Vala noted that, on average, South African farmers produce six to seven tonnes of hybrid maize per hectare, but the figure does not exceed four tonnes per hectare in Mozambique.

"All the South African production is on the basis of hybrid varieties", he added. "In Mozambique, when hybrids are used, production is four tonnes a hectare - but with the normal varieties we only produce 1.8 tonnes per hectare."

The know-how already exists, Vala stressed, and "what we must do now is to increase step by step our efficiency in production. Only then can we be more competitive".

"Nowadays any South African production uses irrigation", he continued, "but unfortunately in Mozambique 97 to 98 per cent of agricultural producers are dependent on the rains and only a tiny number benefit from irrigation

Nonetheless, there are signs of growth - thus last year "we built, or rehabilitated, 1,728 hectares of irrigation schemes."

But irrigation in Mozambique remains very expensive. Rehabilitating just one hectare of an irrigation scheme costs between 3,000 and 7,000 US dollars. Vala said that in the Tewe irrigation project, in the central province of Zambezia, rehabilitating one hectare costs 5,000 collars. This compares with 600 to 700 dollars a hectare in Vietnam or India.

Turning to other crops, Vala said that in South Africa the production of hybrid varieties of tomatoes is 35-40 tonnes a hectare, while the figure in Mozambique is 30-35 tonnes. The commercial dynamic in South African agriculture drove farmers to look continually for better seeds, fertilizers and other inputs.

Vala believed that something of the sort was beginning to happen in Mozambique, particularly in Chokwe, in the Limpopo Valley, where rice producers say they know where they can obtain relatively cheap fertilizer.

"I told them to go ahead", said Vala, "because we are preparing a rice campaign that we want to be one of the strongest ever. We must change the paradigm for this crop".

He added that recent investment in agricultural research has led to the release of 64 improved varieties of various crops, including rice, maize, potato and sweet potato.

As for the 2011-2012 agricultural campaign that will begin in October, Vala said he expected a growth in production is 9.1 per cent, particularly in food crops. Growth in the 2010-2011 campaign was 6.7 per cent, which Vala attributed to genuine growth in productivity, and not merely to an increase in the area under cultivation.

The final figure for the 2011 maize harvest is expected to reach 2.246 million tonnes, well in excess of Mozambique's own consumption requirements, put at 1.917 million tonnes.

Growth in rice production has been sharp, and the harvest is put at 522,000 tonnes. This is still short of the country's rice consumption which stands at over 580,000 tonnes.

AIM

Mozambique government provides land to Brazilian farmers

The Mozambican government is providing large tracts of land at a symbolic price to Brazilian farmers to produce soy, maize and cotton, Mozambique’s agriculture minister, José Pacheco told Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

“Brazilian farmers have accumulated experience that is very welcome,” said Pacheco, adding that, “we want to repeat in Mozambique what they managed to do in the Brazilian cerrado 30 years ago.”

The minister also said that Brazilian farmers would be provided with 6 million hectares (60,000 square kilometres) in four province of northern Mozambique to be farmed under concession for a period of 50 years, renewable for a further 50 years against payment of an annual rent of 37.50 meticals (21 reals) per hectare.

The president of the Cotton Producers Association of the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil, Carlos Ernesto Augustin, told Folha de São Paulo that Mozambican land was very similar to that of the interior of Brazil, with the advantage of the price and the ease in obtaining environmental licenses.

“Mozambique is like Mato Grosso in the middle of Africa, with free land, without so many environmental obstacles, with a much cheaper shipment cost to China (…) Nowadays, as well as land being extremely expensive in Mato Grosso, it is impossible to get a license to clear the area,” Augustin told the newspaper.

China is the main world customer for the soy produced in Brazil and is an important buyer of other agricultural products from the South American country.

According to the Sao Paulo newspaper, a delegation of 40 Brazilian farmers plans to travel to Mozambique in September to analyse the land available in Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Zambézia provinces.



Macauhub

Summary of Mozambique agriculture situation

The joint FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM), conducted in May, estimated that national maize production declined in 2010 by 3 percent from last year’s record level, to 1.878 million tonnes, but remained well above the average of the previous five years. The southern provinces experienced the largest decline, but at the national level this was partly compensated by the good production in three northern regions.

Rice production fell by more than 30 percent compared with last year, as a result of extensive losses and yield reduction in central coastal areas, due to the long dry-spell early in the season.

Both sorghum and millet registered a slight increase in production over last year’s level, primarily attributed to an expansion in the area planted.

Other major crops - beans, groundnuts and cassava - performed satisfactorily, also showing some increase in the area planted.

The mid-season dry spell that affected large areas in the South, forced many farmers to replant their maize crops. However, support provided to farmers through the Government’s Food Production Action Plan (PAPA) for the main season, assisted in preventing a more significant decline in cereal production, particularly in southern provinces. Furthermore, the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG) provided farmers in vulnerable areas with increased quantities of seed (compared to previous years) for the second season, which aimed to compensate for the expected shortfall in the main-season harvest.



Prices of maize grain began to fall in March across most of the country, but in Maputo, following a stable period between March and June, prices only started to decline in July. A large disparity in maize prices between north and south remains, reflecting the regional differences in production, high transport costs – despite recent improvements in infrastructure – and the burgeoning demand from the poultry industry. In August, the price of maize in Maputo (MZN 11.43/kg) was approximately twice as high as the price in Nampula (MZN 6.58/kg). Rice (the most consumed cereal in Maputo) prices have also risen by 33 percent between August 2009 and August 2010 in Maputo.

Forty-five percent of Mozambique’s total land area is suitable for agriculture, but only 11 percent, around 4 million hectares, is estimated to be cultivated. Farming is conducted by some 3 million peasant families, a small number of commercial farmers cultivating a total of less than 60 000 hectares, and refurbished agro-industrial units growing about 40 000 hectares of sugar-cane. Agriculture occupies 81 percent of the country’s population of 21.7 million. Production of food staples is dominated by smallholders, with an average of 1.2 hectares of cultivated land. Use of purchased inputs is very limited; according to a national survey conducted in 2007, only 4 percent use fertilizers.

Mozambique’s diverse soils and climatic conditions, influenced by latitude, altitude, topography and proximity to the coast, offer a wide range of production opportunities. However, as agricultural systems are predominantly rainfed, production can fluctuate widely from year to year. According to MINAG, the existing potential for irrigation, where basic infrastructural requirements are already in place, is 120 000 hectares. However, only 55 000 hectares are used at present; about 35 000 are under sugarcane and most of the remaining 20 000 are under rice and vegetables.

Tree crops, especially coconut and cashew, grown by small farmers are an important source of foreign exchange earnings, and contribute to household food security. Tree numbers are particularly significant in the heavily populated littorals of Inhambane and Gaza, where the contribution to the household food economy of such crops is substantial as individual farm families may own from 100 to 200 trees.

Other major cash crops grown by small farmers include cotton and tobacco, which generally occupy between 150 000 and 180 000 hectares and between 30 000 and 35 000 hectares respectively. These cash crops, along with oilseeds, tea, citrus and horticultural crops (particularly tomatoes), offer alternative sources of income to the small farmers in inland districts, where coconuts and cashews are not grown.

On a larger scale, about 40 000 hectares of industrial plantations of sugarcane (35 000 under irrigation) are grown at four operational sites surrounding sugar mills in Maputo (2) and Sofala (2) provinces. Sugarcane production has increased rapidly from 386 000 tonnes in 1998 to approximately 3 million tonnes by 2010 as a result of improved production practices and increased area planted.

Maize and cassava are the major staples; other food crops of significance include sorghum, beans, groundnuts, millet and rice. Cassava is grown mainly in the north where it is the main food staple, and it is being introduced, along with sweet potatoes, under a Government initiative in drought-prone areas throughout the country. The area under sweet potatoes is also increasing.

The use of purchased agricultural inputs, (improved seeds, fertilizers and pesticides) is limited to a small number of modern farm enterprises growing cash crops and vegetables and to out-growers of tobacco and cotton, producing crops on contract. The yields of cereals in the peasant sector are generally low, and losses in the field and stores are high.

Cattle, goats, sheep are reared in extensive grass-based systems and at such low stocking rates, that body conditions are generally excellent. Tsetse fly precludes the keeping of cattle in some parts, mostly in the central and northern regions. At household level, pigs and poultry are kept mainly under back-yard, scavenger systems. There is, however, a fast-growing modern poultry industry which has almost replaced the importation of chickens from Brazil.

In regards to agriculture, following strong growth of the industrial sector, the share of agriculture in national GDP has been falling since the early 1990s, but has maintained a steady rate of 28 percent since 2002. Despite this decline it still remains the largest sector of the economy with approximately 80 percent of the population dependent on agricultural for their livelihood2. Government support to the agricultural sector has focused on three main strategies, the Green Revolution (2007), the Food Production Action Plan (Plano de Acção da Produção Agrícola, PAPA, 2008-2011) and the Strategic Plan for Development of the Agricultural Sector (Plano Estratégico de Desenvolvimento do Sector Agrário, PEDSA, 2009-2019).

One objective of PAPA’s strategy is to enhance the country’s storage capacity, which is cited as a key obstacle preventing small scale farmers participating in the commercial maize market as well as restricting an increase in inter-regional trade. Currently, national capacity (silos and warehouses) both private and public is estimated at 560 735 tonnes, however, there is still a need for the construction of small scale rural silos to incorporate farmers into market system, in addition this will allow farmers to store maize until prices rise. The Government is planning to increase storage capacity by 143 000 tonnes by 2012.

Average maize yields, at about 1.19 tonnes/ha nationally, were close to those of last year (1.20 tonnes/ha), indicating that reduction in harvested area, rather than yield reduction, was the main contributor to this year’s lower production. It is notable that last year’s average yields were not considerably higher, compared to this season, given the fact that rainfall last year was good.

The use of purchased inputs in Mozambican agriculture is very limited. According to a national survey conducted in 2007, only 4 percent of farmers use any fertilizers. However, the Government this year distributed, through PAPA, 1 600 tonnes of maize seed to all provinces, 2 000 tonnes of rice seed to all provinces except Tete and Manica, and 150 tonnes of soya seed to the provinces of Sofala, Manica, Tete, Zambezia and Nampula. In an effort to increase crop production in the second season and compensate for the relatively poor season in the South and parts of the Centre, the Government also distributed 497 tonnes of maize seed, 1 412 tonnes of wheat seed, 2 125 tonnes of seed potatoes, 107 tonnes of bean seed and 1.7 tonnes of assorted vegetable seed. Ninety tractors and various other pieces of agricultural equipment, including hand-held cultivators and irrigation pumps, were also distributed. These efforts were further supplemented by FAO and various NGOs which provided large numbers of farmers with seed.

Coconut plantations, especially in Sofala Province but also in Nampula Province, have, since about 2005, suffered increasingly from lethal yellowing. The virus has taken a severe toll on very large numbers of palms to the evident detriment of many livelihoods. The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) is reported to be supporting the multiplication of replacement planting material in the form of short-stature lethal-yellowing-tolerant palms, but producers are reluctant to expend the energy required to grub out the dead palms and wait for eight or nine years for the new palms to start producing. The disease has not yet spread to Inhambane Province.

Commercial citrus and mango plantations were infested by fruit fly in the second half of 2009, to the extent that exports to South Africa were halted by MINAG in November. However, exports of these food items resumed in March 2010.

full report...Globserver

Local seeds vital to recovery of crop diversity after natural calamities: study

Seeds of local crop varieties must be included in relief-seed packages distributed to small-scale farmers after natural calamities if indigenous agricultural diversity is to rebound faster. Agricultural relief efforts should also capitalize on existing social networks to distribute seeds more effectively and efficiently.

These are among the findings of a recent study looking into the loss and subsequent recovery of cowpea diversity in Mozambique after massive flooding, followed by severe drought, hit most of the country about 11 years ago.

After natural disasters such as floods and drought that often wipe-out their crops, farmers usually receive relief seed packages to help them recover and restore their food security and source of income. However, most of the seeds in these relief packages are generally of introduced and genetically uniform varieties purchased from markets or from seed companies by well-meaning relief agencies, which slow the recovery of crop diversity.

Interestingly, the study also noted that the speedy recovery of Mozambican cowpea diversity after the double-disasters of 2000 was largely due to the exchange of seeds among farmers through gifting and other social interactions involving friends, family members, and relatives within the same community or adjacent communities.

Dr Morag Ferguson, a molecular biologist with IITA and one of the study’s lead researchers, says farmers in Africa traditionally grow many crops and several varieties of each crop on the same plot of land to cope with unforeseen economic or environmental instabilities. They usually set aside part of their harvest to serve as seed for the next cropping season. They also share or trade some of these seeds with friends and relatives. Therefore, when natural disasters strike, many farmers often lose their seeds and are forced to rely on relief, buy from the market, or receive seeds as gifts from friends and relatives.

“We found that the substantial recovery of cowpea genetic diversity two years after the calamities was mainly due to the informal exchange of seeds among farmers that served as a social-based crop diversity safety backup. It is therefore important that seed relief strategies recognize and capitalize on this existing traditional network based on social relations to help restore diversity especially after natural upheavals,” she said.

The study was initiated in 2002, two years after the flood-drought double disasters and carried out in Chokwe and Xai Xai districts in the Limpompo River Valley –areas that were among those severely affected. The findings of the research have been published in the current edition of ‘Disaster’, a publication of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

The research established that nearly 90% of the farmers in the affected areas received cowpea relief seed immediately after the back-to-back calamities. Two years after, only one-fifth of the recipient farmers were still growing the seeds, while more than half sourced their seeds from markets. However, this did little in restoring cowpea diversity in the affected communities as the seeds bought by farmers from the market were mostly uniform, coming from other districts that grew just one or a few select varieties.

On the other hand, about one-third of the affected farmers obtained seeds from friends and relatives living within the same or neighbouring localities to restock their farms – the same people that they have been exchanging seeds with prior to the disasters. This practice was the main reason why cowpea diversity was restored in these areas, the study showed.

“This approach recognizes that farmer seed systems are robust and resilient, and can provide seed even in emergency situations. And this study shows that such an approach will be more effective in restoring diversity faster and more efficiently than a system based on direct distribution only,” she says.

The study was the first of its kind to investigate in detail the effects of disasters on crop diversity and its recovery. It combined agronomic observations (for example looking at the seeds’ colour, size, pattern, and shape) with biotechnology tools to determine the seeds’ genetic makeup.

CGIAR

John Deere Foundation, Opportunity International in Africa farming microfinance initiative

Opportunity International, a global non-profit microfinance organization providing access to savings accounts, small business loans, training and insurance products to two million people working their way out of poverty, on July 6 announced a $2.5 million grant from the John Deere Foundation, the primary philanthropic arm of Deere & Company.

Opportunity International will use the funding to expand access to financial services for farmers and other entrepreneurs in Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and Uganda, through its "Banking on Africa" initiative.

"One of the John Deere Foundation's goals is to help eliminate hunger through initiatives that help manual farmers move from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture, resulting in enhanced security for the farmers, increased and sustainable food supplies and measurable economic growth in developing nations," said John Bustle, vice president, John Deere Foundation.

"We are impressed with the progress that Opportunity International has made in increasing access to financial services for African farmers, food processors and retailers. Likewise, we are excited and optimistic about Opportunity's ongoing efforts to create a sustainable framework for enhanced food security through increased food production, food availability at local markets and family income to purchase food."

Opportunity International combines the best of traditional microfinance with a rigorous understanding of the unique factors associated with smallholder agriculture in Africa, in an innovative agricultural finance model that has the potential to transform Africa's smallholder farmers from subsistence growers to cash crop producers.

"Opportunity International is creating a financial services model that is designed to increase the farmer's chance for success while mitigating his or her personal risk, and is one that goes far beyond just providing agricultural credit," said John Magnay, Opportunity International's senior agricultural advisor.

"In addition to providing access to savings accounts and loans, we are working with extension services and output markets, with objectives to improve crop productivity, increase incomes and directly impact the food supply within local communities for enhanced food security."

Opportunity International's savings-based microfinance services for entrepreneurs and farmers in developing countries include access to lending, personal savings accounts, small business insurance, and education. These programs combined create a financial safety net for farmers by helping them achieve financial freedom and gain the self-sufficiency needed to expand their businesses, create jobs and support the economic stability of their families and their communities.

"Demand for savings in rural areas is driven by the need for access to funds during seasonal agricultural cycles to support the household until the next harvest. Studies have shown that rural farmers desire more formal savings opportunities. As such, we estimate that 80 to 85 percent of our rural clients will access savings and insurance services," continued Magnay.

Through its "Banking on Africa" initiative, Opportunity International is providing much-needed access to financial services in rural areas to both agricultural and non-agricultural communities. The John Deere Foundation grant will help Opportunity International achieve its objectives to introduce 450 new access sites, extend agricultural loans to over 500,000 new clients, including 95,000 farmer clients, and open 1.4 million interest-bearings savings accounts, with 950,000 of those in rural areas. Plans are also in place to hire 200 agricultural loan officers in the next three years.

"Our relationship with the John Deere Foundation is integral to the successful expansion of our saving-based microfinance services across sub-Saharan Africa, and we are grateful for its continued investment in our organization," said Bill Morgenstern, Opportunity International CEO.

About John Deere Foundation

In addition to Solutions for World Hunger, the John Deere Foundation focuses on higher education and community betterment in locations with major operating facilities and large employee presence.

About Opportunity International

Opportunity International provides access to savings accounts, small business loans, insurance and training to over two million people working their way out of poverty in the developing world. Clients in more than 20 countries use these financial services to start or expand a business, provide for their families, create jobs for their neighbors and build a safety net for the future. For more information, visit www.opportunity.org.