Mozambique: Parliament commission finds high rates of chronic malnutrition in Tete

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Mozambique: Parliament commission finds high rates of chronic malnutrition in Tete

7:51 CAT | 16 Sep 2021

Photo: O País

The Planning and Budget Commission (CPO) of the Assembly of the Republic is concerned about high levels of chronic malnutrition in the province of Tete, an area of the country that nonetheless excels in the production of various foodstuffs.

This concern was expressed last Monday by the president of the Planning and Budget Commission (CPO), António Niquice, during working meetings held with members of the Provincial Executive Councils and the Provincial Services for State Representation.

Niquice, who heads a group of CPO member deputies, was concerned that Tete exhibited high rates of chronic malnutrition, in a province with high [food] production rates.

Niquice says that, in 2020, the rate of chronic malnutrition in Tete stood at 40%, and that this should concern government authorities. He appealed for the roll-out of nutritional education in communities aimed at improving the scenario for children.

Government authorities in Tete are also committed to the outpatient nutritional rehabilitation of children suffering from chronic malnutrition, with the report by the Council of Provincial State Representation Services noting that “low birth weight fell from 3.6% in 2019 to 3.1% in 2020”. [Low birth weight (LBW) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as weight at birth of less than 2,500 g (5.5 lb)].

With regard to food and nutrition security, the document indicates that, for the 2020-2021 agricultural season, cereal consumption is estimated at about 434,017 tons, and production is estimated at 1,301,439 tons.

As regards public revenues, the province of Tete in the first half of 2021 collected MZN 12,816.31 million of own and consigned revenues, out of the annual target of MZN 58,685.80 million.

In 2020, that province collected MZN 15,624.69 million for the state coffers, corresponding to 119% of the target initially estimated at MZN 13,138.94 million, against MZN 15,016.38 collected in 2019.

Contributing to the achievement of this goal were the payment of the VAT tax on internal operations and on the import of various goods and services, the payment of customs duties on foreign trade and the intensification of inspection of goods by mobile brigades both at the borders and in circulation.

Government authorities in that part of the country highlight, in public finances, the contribution of the largest companies operating in Tete to the state coffers, estimated at MZN 8,780.02 million, highlighting the Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB).

In Tete, the CPO parliamentary delegation also met members of the Provincial Assembly, the Municipal Council and Civil Society Organizations, including economic agents.

The group focussed on Moatize and Marara districts in assessing the degree of implementation of the Economic and Social Plan (PES) and State Budget (OE), specifically, addressing the elements of assessment and monitoring of the degree of implementation of planned government actions for the year 2020 and the first half of 2021 in the materialization of the objectives of the Government’s Five-Year Program (PQG).

Source: O País