Mozambique: More droughts by 2050 and agriculture needs adapting – specialists

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Mozambique: More droughts by 2050 and agriculture needs adapting – specialists

6:56 CAT | 30 Oct 2018

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File photo: Mozambique Resources Post

Mozambique is expected to have higher temperatures and longer periods of drought by 2050, especially in the south of the country, and will need to plant more drought resistant foods, specialists said in Maputo on Tuesday.

“The tendency is for temperatures to rise and we have to adapt; reinvent,” said Graça Manjate, a member of the Mozambican Institute for Agrarian Research.

Manjate was speaking to Lusa on Tuesday on the sidelines of a meeting organised by the World Food Programme (WFP) on food security and means of subsistence in Mozambique in the face of climate change.

Research needs to intervene and create varieties of produce that can adapt to new climate conditions, she added.

Maize was one of the examples given at the meeting as it is the most popular food in Mozambique, and the WFP already has tests underway in the country for production using improved seeds.

Tuesday’s meeting was based on the WFP’s historical analysis of weather in Mozambique over the last 36 years.

Karin Manente, the national director and representative of the UN agency in Mozambique, said she was working with the Government and communities to provide technical assistance and equipment.

The WFP currently supports some 160,000 people in areas of Mozambique usually affected by flooding and drought.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that 7.2 million of Mozambique’s population of 28.8 million (around one quarter) live in a situation of chronic food insecurity.

Figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) point to 43% of Mozambican children suffering from ‘under-nutrition, which occurs most often in rural areas.

Source: Lusa