Study finds small scale farmers not using BMM silos

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Study finds small scale farmers not using BMM silos

9:31 CAT | 14 Aug 2018

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Small scale farmers are failing to use the grain silos provided by the publicly owned Mozambique Commodities Exchange (BMM), according to the non-governmental organisation the Rural Observatory (OMR).

OMR came to this conclusion after carrying out research into the facilities offered by BMM. The study found that the situation is partly due to a lack of readily available information. This was worsened by the minimum weight requirement of five tonnes of grain.

The study is based on interviews held with 210 small farmers in districts where BMM has functioning silos – in Malema in Nampula province, Lichinga in Niassa province, and Nhamatanda in Sofala province.

ORM lamented that although the silos are an important link in the chain of agricultural production, they “are still not effectively contributing to small scale production”.

The research found that market conditions are unfavourable to the small producers who bear the risk of post-harvest losses due to the current state of the storage infrastructure.

The study recommended investing in extension services to disseminate information about the operations of BMM, the creation of producer associations, and improvements to access to credit.

It was almost exactly a year ago when BMM revealed that it needed 25 million meticais (about 410,000 US dollars at the then exchange rate) to correct defects made during the construction of grain storage silos across the country.

Work on the silos began in 2009 with the expectation that it would provide better storage and conservation of grain and improve the functioning of agricultural markets.

The first phase involved building five silos, with the total capacity to hold 18,000 tonnes of grain in the provinces of Sofala, Zambezia, Nampula and Niassa. In a second phase, 21 silos with a capacity of 21,000 tonnes were constructed in Tete, Zambezia, Cabo Delgado and Niassa. The third phase envisaged the construction of silos in Manica, Tete, Zambezia and Gaza to hold 18,000 tonnes, but it has not yet been completed.

Also Read: 400,000 US dollars needed for grain storage silos repairs

Source: AIM