Mozambique: About 5 million lifted out of food insecurity since 2019 – president

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Mozambique: About 5 million lifted out of food insecurity since 2019 – president

5:34 CAT | 08 Nov 2024

Screen grab: TVM

The president of Mozambique said on Friday that around five million Mozambicans were lifted out of food insecurity between 2019 and 2024 as a result of the implementation of the SUSTENTA agrarian programme.

Filipe Nyusi, who was speaking in Xinavane, Manhiça district, Maputo province, in the south of the country, as part of the launch of the 2024/2025 agrarian campaign, said that the implementation of the SUSTENTA agrarian programme on a national scale between 2019-2020 and 2022-2024 “was a success”.

Nyusi pointed to the growth in the volume of export products as one of the indicators, especially those considered cash crops, which, according to the Mozambican Head of State, reached an “unprecedented” figure of one billion dollars (€928.7 million) in the period in question, after registering figures of less than $700 million (€650 million).

“This is a reality,” declared Filipe Nyusi, pointing out that the programme has contributed to reducing the balance of trade deficit in the agricultural sector, specifically from $499 million (463 million euros) in 2022 to $360 million (334 million euros) in 2023.

Nyusi argued that SUSTENTA has “boosted production and productivity” in Mozambique: “its contribution is reflected in the improvement in the food situation of around five million Mozambicans, who are no longer food insecure”.

“We’re not saying it’s over, because there’s this confusion when people say that. And they say you’re lying. We’re not saying it’s over, but we’re working towards it,” he insisted.

The president said that the programme’s overall funding reached $9.3 billion (€8.3 billion) between 2020 and 2024 alone.

According to figures presented by the Mozambican president, 3,817 new extension workers were trained under SUSTENTA during this period, replicating knowledge about agricultural production to more than a million families.

“We have to adhere to production (…) that is more sustainable,” said Filipe Nyusi, adding that Sustenta has seen improvements in agricultural mechanisation, allowing growth from 25 tractors in 2018 to 1,000 in 2022.

The SUSTENTA programme, launched in 2017, has been the Mozambique government’s main focus in recent times. Its main aim is to strengthen the capacity of small farmers to drive industrialisation.

The programme received initial support of 16 billion meticais from the World Bank.

As a way of resisting the high levels of poverty and chronic malnutrition, the majority of the Mozambican population, who live in rural areas, resort to subsistence farming as their only means of survival.

The Mozambican government, which has defined agriculture as a priority for the economy, has pointed to the industrialisation of the sector and the focus on marketing as two of its main challenges.

Source: Lusa