Farmers in Nampula districts lack key inputs – AIM report

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Farmers in Nampula districts lack key inputs – AIM report

2:18 CAT | 17 Jan 2017

Communal farmers cultivate maize crops in Mvuma district, Masvingo, Zimbabwe, January 26, 2016. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

CoM (file photo)

Farmers in the districts of Nacaroa, Muecate and Erati, in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula, have complained that the lack of improved seeds, and of agricultural machinery, including tractors, is hindering the normal course of their activities.

The farmers were presenting their concerns to a monitoring team, consisting of national directors from five ministries, which has been visiting the region since Thursday to check on agricultural and fisheries activities.

Farmers in these districts interviewed by AIM said the shortage of agricultural inputs was a serious concern, and hinders all efforts to increase production and productivity.

A Nacaroa peasant, Francisco Alberto, lamented that he is unable to increase the area under cultivation, and thus increase his income, because of the lack of access to tractors.

“Cultivating the land is our main activity”, he said. “It’s the sole basis of livelihood in this rural area. But we face great difficulties in cultivating large areas, because we don’t have the improved seeds and the machinery such as tractors, which could help us plough our fields”.

Instead, peasant farmers fall back on rudimentary technology, cultivating small areas with the use of short-handled hoes. In addition to the time it takes to prepare the land with these hoes, this is work which can seriously damage farmers’ health.

Mathilde Americo agreed with Alberto. He said that, in addition to the lack of improved seeds, farmers are faced with unscrupulous buyers who force them to sell their crops to very low prices. Few traders come from Nacaraoa town to the productive areas, and when they do, they dictate the prices.

“Our land is very fertile”, said Americo, “but we can’t cultivate large areas because we don’t have the tractors or the seeds. We ask the government to minimise this situation’.

The administrators of these three districts told the visiting delegation that they recognise the difficulties faced by farmers, but they have no immediate solution.

In Muecate, for instance, the local administration does not have a single tractor that can be lent or rented to farmers to work their fields. Officials believe that the solution is to set up agrarian centres with agricultural equipment that can be used by farmers (such centres exist in other parts of the country).

Despite these difficulties, peasant are clearly working their land to produce food for the families, and a surplus for sale. It was, however, notable that they were not growing vegetables despite the key role vegetables should play in fighting against malnutrition.

Source: AIM