WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-04-28 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
Maputo – The Mozambican government believes that the current international food crisis – while posing a short term threat to the country – could be an opportunity for increasing domestic agricultural production.
The government said this could even stimulate the agricultural industry.
Agriculture minister Soarea Nhaca told reporters on Saturday that as a medium term measure, the government was designing a series of strategic actions to eliminate deficits in the production of basic foodstuffs – and to export a surplus once the domestic market has been satisfied.
He said some short-term measures were also under consideration in order to improve access to productive land, create food reserves, and improve the transport of food from where it is produced to where it is consumed.
These measures were intended to reduce the country’s food deficit in three years rather than five, the time allotted in the Agriculture Ministry’s strategic plan.
Nhaca said the government also intends to speed up rehabilitation of the local roads linking productive areas to markets, and to increase the access of small farmers to the agricultural inputs they need.
He acknowledged that the country was faced with a serious deficit in several basic foods, therefore, almost all the wheat consumed in Mozambique was imported.
This year, the country needs to import almost 470 000 tons of wheat and 169 000 tons of potatoes.
Furthermore, the rice deficit was 316 000 tons, the shortfall for vegetable oil was 50 400 tons, for fish 54 000 tons and for chicken 24 000 tons.
Nhaca promised that government was also monitoring prices to ensure that they did not reach the levels found in some other countries, adding that he believed Mozambique could seize the opportunity afforded by the crisis to lift production.
This was particularly the case with rice. Nhaca said that of all the members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Mozambique has the available land, the best climatic conditions, and the know-how to expand rapidly rice production, replacing imports, and perhaps eventually producing a surplus for export.
As for wheat, Nhaca argued that the current high world prices would compensate for efforts to expand domestic wheat production.
So far wheat was only produced on the Angonia plateau in the western province of Tete, but the government was convinced that several other parts of the country possess the appropriate agro-climatic conditions for wheat production.
Nhaca also said he thought that, rather than viewing it simply as a subsistence crop, much more of the country’s cassava could be marketed and turned into flour.
One project under study was to make cheaper bread by using a mixture of wheat and cassava flour.
The minister argued that Mozambique was competitive in producing soy and sunflower, which could replace imports, and supply the national vegetable oil and animal feed industries.
He admitted that the challenge was to ensure that producers respond to the opportunities.
“Many producers abandoned some crops because of the costs of production. But the rise in international prices would now make it worth their while to produce them again,” he said.
This was far from automatic.
Nhaca said that, to stimulate a response from the producers, large amounts of fertilisers must be imported and put at their disposal.
He added that the government wished to revive the national seed industry, in order to ensure that peasants were supplied with good seeds.
Other measures planned were expanding irrigation systems, increasing the use of animal traction, and mobilising resources for special lines of credit at favourable interest rates for agriculture. – Sapa
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20080428090130870C822417