India pursues pulse import agreements with Argentina and Brazil
A 'machamba' which did not produce due to lack of rain. The corn finally dried.
In addition to the difficulties brought about by drought during the last agricultural season, the movement of animals in the district has also been embargoed due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. The government is asking cooperation partners for help.
About 30,000 residents of the Tambara district in the Mozambican province of Manica are at risk of starving, the Mozambican authorities warn.
Frederico Constâncio, one of the district’s inhabitants, is worried that the same difficulties will be experienced next year. “We had irregular rainfall in the 2017/2018 campaign,” he explains, “Everyone has had to find a way to get by,” he says.
“For example, I have a small vegetable garden and hope to have a small harvest that will last a few months, but it will not be enough until the next harvest. Help is always welcome, we always need a hand if possible,” he says.
The fact that the movement of animals in the region has been banned after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease is worsening the situation. Without animals to sell, breeders and farmers are left with no money to buy food.
More support
In an interview with DW Africa, Ronaldo Naico, provincial director of Industry and Commerce, says that more than three and a half million Euros is needed to help the needy families.
“What is being done at government level is to mobilise support with cooperation partners to respond to this situation. I am referring to the distribution of food by economic agents for those areas, but also the multiform support in foodstuffs to households.”
Naico says that, although the situation is not as serious as in Tambara, there was diminished agricultural production in Guro and Machaze districts. This leads “economic agents to the corn grain of the districts where there was better production for the south zone, by which I mean Mossurize.”
“Part of the production is being sold in the Machaze district. There is still no alarm and for the northern zone there has been a movement of necessary products, but there is also movement of cereals that leave the district of Baruè to supply that population,” he notes.
Naico hopes that the ban on the circulation of animals will be lifted soon, as that will improve the situation.
Tobias Alune Nguilaze, a farmer in Tambara, also calls for government help. “It should help us by supplying seeds that are resilient to drought, so that if there is rain in three months, we have something to eat. Because, besides the corn, which is the staple, we also grow sweet potatoes and cassava. Yams do not grow well,” he says. What has saved the population from hunger is sweet potatoes, he adds.
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