Huge potential in Niassa’s agro-processing industry – Mozambique

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Huge potential in Niassa’s agro-processing industry – Mozambique

8:37 CAT | 01 Apr 2017

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi pledged that his government regards the industrialisation of the northernmost province of Niassa as a priority.

He had agro-processing industries in mind, given Niassa’s fertile soils and huge agricultural potential.

Speaking on his arrival at the airport in the provincial capital, Lichinga, Nyusi urged the population to increase agricultural production and productivity, so that agro-processing factories will have sufficient raw material.

One of the main problems facing Niassa has been finding a market for all its surplus crops. Since much of the province is remote, and served by poor roads, private traders have been reluctant to buy up all the peasant surpluses. But Nyusi pledged that the state, through the National Grain Institute (ICM), will purchase peasant production, and will form partnerships with private companies.

He urged Niassa farmers not to make the mistake of selling all their production, but to hold some back, not only for their own subsistence, but also to provide seeds for the following agricultural year.

“When you sell your produce, keep back some for seed, so we don’t face a situation of ploughed fields with no seeds”, he said.

Last year, the rebuilding of the railway branch line from Cuamba to Lichinga was completed, linking the Niassa provincial capital to the northern main line and the port of Nacala. So far only passenger trains travel between Lichinga and Cuamba, but Nyusi promised that in the near future goods trains from the coast would also reach Lichinga.

This is excellent news for Niassa, since the use of the railway will lower transport costs and should reduce the prices of consumer goods in the province’s shops. But Nyusi stressed that the wagons should not return from Niassa empty.

He wanted to see produce from Niassa full the wagons for the return journey, thus improving the sustainability of the railway. “Let us increase production so that there is cargo for the trip back to Nacala”, he urged.

Source: AIM