Mozambique: Farmers in Chókwe ask for vegetable processing plant

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Mozambique: Farmers in Chókwe ask for vegetable processing plant

12:28 CAT | 09 May 2024

File photo: Domingo

Farmers of vegetables and other fresh produce in the Chókwe Irrigation Scheme in Gaza province, are calling for processing and conservation infrastructure to be set up, in order to improve production chain profitability in the region.

In an interview with Radio Mozambique, the farmers said that the lack of agricultural processing capacity causes them enormous losses every year, due to the deterioration of large quantities of production.

They say that the construction around ten years ago of the Chókwe agro-industrial complex (CAIC) was seen as a lifeline, but the industrial unit never functioned properly and eventually ceased operations completely, leaving cabbage, kale, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, beans and potatoes with no market.

Obede Mudlovo, a farmer for 20 years with 60 hectares under cultivation, hopes to produce more than 100 tons of potato in the second crop of the current agricultural season, but says that the market is uncertain and fears that he will suffer considerable losses.

“I will produce tomatoes, peppers, cabbage and beans. But sale is the problem, because we sell here in Chókwe, we take it to Xai-Xai and Maputo, but this way of doing things doesn’t help us; produce deteriorates and we end up offering them at zero cost to the communities,” he says.

Orlando Sitoe, who works an area of ten hectares, cites the same constraints.

Meanwhile, Chókwe District Administrator Eceu Muianga reassures producers that the CIAC will resume operations later this year, and will absorb tomato production at a minimum.

Source: Radio Moçambique